Castrated horse becomes dad
2005-04-15 10:16
Paris - Gene scientists on Thursday announced the birth of the world's second horse clone - an animal that they hope will emulate the champion performance of his castrated father.
The foal has been saddled with the name Pieraz-Cryozootech-Stallion.
He was born in Cremona on February 25, according to the French laboratory Cryozootech of Evry, France, and LTR-CIZ of Cremona, Italy, which carried out the cloning.
"He was 42 kilos at birth, is now 50 kilos and is doing great," Cryozootech said on its website, showing a picture of a brown foal with a small white patch on its forehead.
The same group of researchers carried out the world's first equine clone, Prometea, in 2003.
Pieraz-Cryozootech-Stallion is the clone of 1994 and 1996 world endurance champion Pieraz, owned by US horsewoman Valerie Kanavy.
Endurance riding entails gallops over tens of kilometres and is especially popular in the United Arab Emirates. Endurance horses are often castrated.
No guarantee
The cloned foal will be used exclusively for breeding purposes, although Cryozootech acknowledged that there was no guarantee that its offspring "will be as good a competitor" as the original champion.
Scientists say that the cloning of complex multi-celled organisms is still at an early technological stage.
Cloning entails taking an egg, removing its nucleus, and replacing it with the nucleus of any cell taken from the donor animal.
This nucleus contains almost all of the donor's genetic code, so if the egg is then transplanted into a surrogate and results in a birth, the offspring should be a genetic duplicate in all but negligible detail.
However, most cloning attempts result in miscarriages because the egg fails to develop properly.
In addition, cloned mammals face a high risk of falling sick or dying young, apparently because of flaws inflicted to the genetic code during the cloning process.
Cryozootech has a gene bank from more than 30 horses, all exceptional in disciplines as varied as endurance, jumping and dressage.
The rules of thoroughbred racing, however, do not allow artificial insemination, cloning or any kind of fertility treatment, to produce thoroughbred racehorses.