The calf-cloning experts here have broadened their capabilities
with the successful birth of cloned piglets. “Three piglets from
the same cell line and, therefore, with identical DNA (the same
as identical twins) were born over the Memorial Day weekend,”
said Mike Wanner, ProLinia president.
UGA and ProLinia have successfully, and to much media attention,
cloned calves in the past. But these are the first pigs.
“Overall, the births were a major breakthrough and a success,”
said Steve Stice, UGA CAES professor and Georgia Research
Alliance eminent scholar with the UGA animal and dairy science
department. He is the chief scientific officer of ProLinia. “The
discoveries made during the process will be useful in improving
efficiencies for future efforts.”
Adjustments
Lead researcher and ProLinia principal scientist Scott Pratt
directed many changes during the course of the pig cloning
project. More is generally known about cattle reproductive
systems than those of pigs. Many adjustments were necessary.
“Less is known about how to culture embryos, for instance,”
Pratt said.
The cloned embryos also have to be surgically implanted into the
recipient sows. This is challenging, too. Researchers are
attempting to develop techniques to avoid surgery in the
future.
Commercially Viable
“ProLinia will take this research and the clones straight to the
commercial industry in order to improve the overall breeding
stock of large-scale producers,” Wanner said.
The piglets were cloned using cells (skin tissue) from a boar in
the commercial breeding operation of Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Smithfield is the largest hog producer in the world. It owns and
operates hog farms with about 700,000 sows in North Carolina,
South Carolina, Virginia, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, South
Dakota, Missouri, Illinois, Mexico, Brazil and Poland.
By design, the pork industry can use this kind of research and
easily take advantage of improved genetics, said Larry Benyshek,
head of the CAES ADS department.
Artificial insemination is primarily used in the pork industry,
Benyshek said. However, boar semen doesn’t freeze, which is
different from cattle. So, fresh semen must be used.
There is “a need for duplicate individual boars to be placed in
different regions, making access to fresh semen of common
genetics easier for individual producers or corporate pork
producers,” Benyshek said. “The major benefit of cloning will be
to extend the impact of individuals of superior genetic
merit.”
Next Step
The next step for the pigs will be catching up with the beef.
UGA’s most recently cloned calf, K.C., was cloned from a
slaughtered cow that had been selected for its quality. In the
future, UGA and ProLinia hope to do this with pigs.
“We will be collecting cells from pig carcasses that have already
been selected for their quality,” Stice said.
Cloning promises to provide a more consistent quality product to
consumers, Stice said. Using pig cloning, it is estimated, could
save some in the pork industry $5 to $15 per pig.
The Agreements
The technology used to clone the pigs will be patented by UGA
but licensed exclusively to ProLinia. The UGA Research
Foundation provides ProLinia access to UGA laboratories and
facilities.
Smithfield has a minority stake in ProLinia. However, ProLinia
is allowed to sell cloned animals to other large-scale
producers.
“We can and will advance the work we are doing for other large-
scale producers in the hog industry,” Wanner said.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The piglets and various ProLinia cloned
cattle, including KC, will be on display and available for
photographers at the Edgar Rhodes Animal and Dairy Science Large
Animal Research Unit at the University of Georgia from 3 p.m. to
5 p.m. on Thursday, June 27. Contact Chuck Toney at (706)
583-0370 or ctoney@uga.edu.)
