Japanese scientist clone mouse from drop of blood

The Japanese scientists have cloned a mouse from a
single drop of blood. A team at the Riken BioResource
Center reports that circulating blood cells collected
from the tail of a donor mouse were used
to produce the clone.
According to the researchers; the female mouse lived a normal
lifespan and could give birth to younger ones.
Scientists at a linked institute recently created nearly 600
exact genetic copies of one mouse.
Mice have been cloned from several different sources of donor
cells, including white blood cells found in the lymph nodes,
bone marrow and liver.
The investigation revealed that circulating blood cells could
also be used for cloning. The aim of the Japanese scientists
was to find an easily available source of donor cells to clone
scientifically valuable strains of laboratory mice.
The team, led by Atsuo Ogura, of Riken BioResource Center
in Tsukuba, took blood from the tail of a donor mouse,
isolated the white blood cells, and used the nuclei for cloning
experiments, using the same technique that produced Dolly
the sheep in Edinburgh.
Somatic cell nuclear transfer, the process that involves
transferring the nucleus from an adult body cell - such as a
blood or skin cell - into an unfertilised egg that has had its
nucleus removed.
Reporting their findings in the US journal, Biology of
Reproduction, the scientists said the study "demonstrated for
the first time that mice could be cloned using the nuclei of
peripheral blood cells".
The scientists say, "These cells could be used for cloning
immediately after collection and no donor animals need to be
euthanized.
This technique would be applicable for generating genetic
copies of invaluable strains of mice, which cannot be
preserved by other assisted reproductive techniques such as
conventional in vitro fertilisation or intracytoplasmic sperm
injection."
Scientists in Japan have years of experience in cloning mice.
A team at a linked institute recently revealed they had
produced almost 600 mice from one donor mouse after 25
consecutive rounds of cloning.
The research is aimed at large-scale production of high-
quality animals for farming or conservation purposes, they
say.