Updated on 11 March 2013 RIKEN has used the technique of somatic
cell nuclear transfer, which has been used to create Dolly the
sheep, to produce mouse clones Singapore: Researchers from the
RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, have used
the same technique that was used to create Dolly the sheep, and
have identified a way to produce healthy mouse clones that live
a normal lifespan and can be sequentially cloned indefinitely.
Their study is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. In an
experiment that started in 2005, the team led by Dr Teruhiko
Wakayama used a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer
(SCNT) to produce 581 clones of one original 'donor' mouse,
through 25 consecutive rounds of cloning. SCNT is a widely used
cloning technique whereby a cell nucleus containing the genetic
information of the individual to be cloned is inserted into a
living egg that has had its own nucleus removed. It has been
used successfully in laboratory animals as well as farm animals.
However, until