Cloned Sheep Age Normally

July 26, 2016

(The Scientist) – When Dolly the sheep became the world’s first cloned animal, some researchers raised concerns that animals conceived using this technique would suffer health problems as they aged. But new research suggests that animals cloned using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) age normally. Researchers from the University of Nottingham, U.K, and their colleagues measured the metabolic, cardiac, and musculoskeletal health of 17 cloned sheep aged 7 to 9 years old (including four from the same cell line that gave rise to Dolly), finding that the cloned animals showed no signs of disease related to the SCNT process, they reported today (July 26) in Nature Communications.