Russia’s first cloned cow gives birth to healthy calf in Moscow region

MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. Russia’s first cloned cow has given birth to a healthy calf, the press service of the Moscow region’s agriculture and food ministry said on Friday. According to the ministry, the 40-kilogram calf was born on December 30, 2022. "Genome-editing technology can only be developed when cloned animals are capable of giving birth to viable offspring. That is why the birth of the first calf by a cloned cow is a great achievement for Moscow-region scientists. The animals feel well and are under round-the-clock supervision by veterinarians," the press service quoted Georgy Filimonov, deputy prime minister of the Moscow region in charge of the agriculture and food ministry, as saying. Russia’s first cloned cow was born at the Federal Research Center of Animal Breeding in April 2020 with the use of somatic cell nuclei as donors. "Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) with the use of genetically modified somatic cells is seen today as a key technological platform for genome editing of cattle and other live-stock animals. That is why specialists are conducting research to improve the critically important stages of the technological chain," the ministry said. Read more