News: world's first dog clone

[Karlin]

Interesting!

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7785

[Maxxs_Mummy]

Wow Karlin!

This is exactly what I was posting about a few weeks ago on Chad's site. I think if we keep getting SM in our beloved Cavaliers then it might be the only way forward.

I don't want it for a clone of Maxx but just to save the breed from dying out. I mean if every 'breeder' stopped breeding from dogs and bitches that are affected by anything (MVD, SM, etc etc) then we're going to end up with a breed that are even rarer than they were 20 years ago.

I do find genetics very interesting as a subject though and maybe find it more acceptable than maybe 'joe public' having worked with medicines most of my life!

[Harry & Heidi's mom]

well i'm all for it!!!

well done to those guys

[rory]

Wow Karlin!

I don't want it for a clone of Maxx but just to save the breed from dying out. I mean if every 'breeder' stopped breeding from dogs and bitches that are affected by anything (MVD, SM, etc etc) then we're going to end up with a breed that are even rarer than they were 20 years ago.

But cloning isn't really a solution to that. You wouldn't increase the gene pool at all by producing more animals w/ exactlly the same genetic make-up. It'd be the same as only breeding from unaffected dogs (which would limit out gene pool to.. what? 10%?? )

there was a video on the BBC article where they said that cloning was a solution to genetic problems because they could fix the gene - (gene therapy) and then reinsert it into an empty egg and grow it up as a clone with the fixed gene. Interesting idea. But we have to figure out the gene therapy first! And it doesn't do much good if we can't figure out what the genes are that cause the disease or if there are multiple genes causing a disease.

And if we know the gene and can screen for it, we could theoretically just breed away from it anyway w/o the use of cloning....

[Karlin]

The other problem right now and for the foreseeable future is that clones seem to not live very long and have various health issues (Dolly died long before a normal sheep would die, for example, and there's a whole set of ethical questions about indiscriminately creating clones for this reason). So it wouldn;t be a reeproductive solution but more, that if they can better understand gene therapy, it might be a way to learn enough about, say SM or other genetic conditions, to find a way of curing or breeding around it. Here's hoping!