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Extinct goat in line for cloning
By David Pilling, Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
Published: October 8 2000 18:12GMT | Last Updated: October 8 2000 18:17GMT
Scientists will later this year attempt the first resurrection of an extinct species when they seek to clone a Spanish mountain goat from the preserved cells of a deceased specimen.
In an echo of Jurassic Park, the book and film in which dinosaurs are brought back to life, scientists hope to revive the bucardo, a species declared extinct - albeit only nine months ago.
Saving endangered species has been considered a promising application of cloning ever since Dolly, produced from the mammary cell of a dead sheep, was cloned in 1997. Science fiction moved closer to fact last week when Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, said it had cloned an endangered animal called an Asian gaur.
The gaur, named Noah, is due to be born next month. It was cloned from a single skin cell of a dead gaur, an ox-like animal. The cell was injected into a cow egg from which the DNA had been removed. Once it began dividing, it was implanted into a cow on an Iowa farm, making it the first cloned animal to be gestated in the womb of another species.
ACT hopes to repeat its success in Spain. Plans are already under way to clone other endangered species. The development has drawn a mixed response from conservationists, some of whom question the value of reviving a species if its natural habitat has been destroyed.
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