World meat industry news

In the Moscow region, for the first time in Russia, they received offspring from a cloned cow. The cloned animal successfully produced a healthy 40 kg calf. The newborn was named Decembrist because her birthday fell on December 30, 2022, The DairyNews was told in the press service of the regional Ministry of Agriculture.

“The development of genomic editing technology can only be possible if cloned animals are able to produce viable offspring. Therefore, the birth of the first offspring from a cloned heifer is a great achievement for scientists near Moscow. The animals feel good and are under the daily supervision of veterinary specialists,” said Georgy Filimonov, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Moscow Region, who is in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Successful studies were carried out by specialists of the Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry - VIZH named after Academician L.K. Ernst. In April 2020, the first clone of cattle in Russia was obtained at the research center using somatic cell nuclei as donors. The born heifer Flower received its name from the name of the cell line that was used as a donor of nuclei for cloning.

Cloning (SCNT) using genetically modified somatic cells is considered today as the main technological platform for genomic editing of cattle and other farm animals. In this regard, experts are conducting research aimed at improving the critical stages of the technological chain. The results obtained indicate that further research is needed to develop somatic cloning as the main technological platform for genomic editing of cattle.