- Dog lovers may soon be able to have clones
made of their favourite pets.
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- Scientists say a commercial service offering
identical animal replicas could be available within five years. They reckon
that once the process is refined, a pet could be duplicated for £5,000.
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- It follows the cloning of Dolly the sheep
who was the first mammal created in a laboratory. And it comes in the wake
of fertility expert Richard Seed's claim that he is on the brink of duplicating
his wife.
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- Scientists in America have spent two
years trying to clone a mongrel called Missy, left.
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- The rescue-home dog's rich owners paid
£1.1million for the research to be done.
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- They want an exact copy of the border
collie-cross to replace her when she dies.
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- The Missyplicity Project has generated
orders for duplicated pets worldwide.
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- Many British people have paid £750
to have their dog's genetic tissue stored, ready for when the technique
is perfected.
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- The project was inspired by Dolly the
sheep who was cloned three years ago in Edinburgh.
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- The highly-respected genetic unit at
A&M University, Texas, picked up a challenge from Missy's owners to
make a replica of her.
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- Succeed
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- If they succeed, other copycat agencies
are expected to spring up.
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- Researchers are studying the difference
in genetic make-up between sheep and dogs to learn how to adapt the process
used on Dolly for Missy.
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- Cloning involves taking DNA from an animal
and injecting it into an egg whose nucleus - the gene-carrying centre -
has been removed.
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- An artificial process similar to fertilisation
then stimulates the egg into growing and the embryo is planted into the
womb of a surrogate mother.
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- The clone would look almost identical
to the original, possibly with slightly different colouring.
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- But their characters could be entirely
different, even though they have the same genetic make-up, just like human
twins.
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