Elizabeth Ann, the First Cloned Black-Footed Ferret

[chetangoti]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/science/black-footed-ferret-clone.html

[tyingq]

Less pictures, but has the full article: https://outline.com/vP7tTA

[callmekit]

From the article: "ViaGen created embryos and implanted them into a domestic ferret surrogate".

I wonder how the "created embryos" step can be done?

[wcoenen → callmekit]

An unfertilized donor egg cell is taken from another animal and has its nucleus replaced with one from a cell from the animal to be cloned. The reprogrammed egg cell is then stimulated to start dividing much like a normal fertilized egg.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_cell_nuclear_transfer

[sly010]

"may bring needed genetic diversity"

Isn't the cloning the opposite of that?

[glerk → sly010]

The original cells were frozen in 1988 and since then the population of black-footed ferrets has dwindled to just a few individuals all living in captivity. The article mentions that all black-footed ferrets alive today are essentially half-siblings, except for this clone.

[maxerickson → sly010]

The cells used to make the clone are from an individual that died years ago.