A group of Japanese scientists successfully produced cloned mice using freeze-dried cells in one new cloning technique they believe may one day help conserve species and overcome challenges with current biobank methods.
The United Nations recently released a press release where they warned that extinctions are accelerating around the world and that at least a million species could disappear due to human-induced impacts such as climate change.
Seeing these premises, over the years they have arisen facilities globally to preserve specimens of endangered species with the aim of preventing extinction by future cloning, with these samples being typically cryopreserved using liquid nitrogen or kept at extremely low temperatures, which can be costly and vulnerable to power outages.
They also usually involve sperms and oocytes, which can be difficult or impossible to harvest from old or sterile animals.
Scientists fromJapanese University of Yamanashi they wanted to see if they could solve these problems by lyophilizing somatic cells – any cell other than a sperm or egg – and attempting to produce clones with a new cloning technique, whereupon they experimented with two types of mouse cells and found that, while the freeze-drying it killed them and did significant DNA damage, they could still produce cloned blastocystsa ball of cells that develops in an embryo.
From these, the scientists extracted stem cell lines that they have used to create 75 cloned miceand of these one survived for a year and nine months, and the team, given the success, also mated female and male cloned mice with natural born partners, succeeding also in this case and creating “normal” puppies.
Mice cloned with the new cloning technique they produced fewer offspring than would have been expected from naturally born mice and one of the stem cell lines developed from male cells produced only clones of female mice.
“Improvement shouldn’t be difficult”
he has declared Teruhiko Wakayamaa professor at Yamanashi University’s Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, who helped lead the study published in the journal Nature Communications this month, who later added:
“We believe that in the future we will be able to reduce anomalies and increase the birth rate by seeking protective agents for freeze drying and improving drying methods.”
The use of this new cloning technique marked a breakthrough in this field
While the use of this new cloning technique has certainly given a twist, there are other drawbacks: the success rate cloning of mice from cells stored in liquid nitrogen or at ultra low temperatures it is between 2 and 5 percentwhile the lyophilized method is only 0.02 percent.
But Wakayama says that the new cloning technique is still in its early stagescomparing it to the study that produced “Dolly”, the famous sheep clone, a single hit after more than 200 attempts.
“We believe that the most important thing is that the cloned mice were produced from freeze-dried somatic cells and that we have achieved a breakthrough in this field”
Wakayama said.
While the method is unlikely to completely replace cryopreservation, it represents “very exciting advancement for scientists interested in biobanks that have threatened global biodiversity,” said Simon Clulow, senior researcher at the University’s Center for Conservation Ecology and Genomics. Canberra.
“It can be difficult and expensive to develop cryopreservation protocols and therefore alternatives, especially cheaper and more robust ones, are extremely welcome”
added Clulow, who was not involved in research on this new cloning technique.
The study stored freeze-dried cells at minus 30 degrees Celsius, but the team previously showed that freeze-dried mouse sperm can survive for at least a year at room temperature, and they believe somatic cells would too.
The new cloning technique could eventually “allow genetic resources from around the world to be stored in an affordable and safe way,” Wakayama said.
The work is an extension of years of research into the cloning and freeze drying techniques of Wakayama and its partners.
One of their recent projects involved freeze-drying mouse sperm sent to the International Space Station, and even after six years in space, the cells were successfully rehydrated on Earth and produced healthy baby mice.
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