South Korea's customs service says it has deployed the "world's first cloned sniffer dogs" to check for drugs at its main airport and border crossings.
Six puppies cloned from a Canadian-born sniffer dog in late 2007 have reported for duty after completing a 16-month training programme.
The clones are all called Toppy, a combination of "tomorrow" and "puppy".
The customs agency says clones help to lower crime-fighting costs as it is difficult to find good sniffer dogs.
Only about 30% of naturally-born sniffer dogs make the grade, but South Korean scientists say that could rise to 90% using the cloning method.
'Better performance'
'World's first cloned sniffer dogs'
The new recruits are part of a litter of seven puppies who were cloned from a "superb" drug-sniffing Canadian Labrador retriever called Chase in 2007, officials said.
One dropped out of the training due to an injury.
"They are the world's first cloned sniffer dogs deployed at work," Park Jeong-Heon, a customs spokesman at Seoul's Incheon International Airport, told AFP news agency.
"They showed better performances in detecting illegal drugs during the training than other naturally-born sniffer dogs that we have."
The cloning work was conducted by a team of scientists at Seoul National University, who created the world's first cloned dog - an Afghan Hound named Snuppy.
The state-funded project cost about 300m won ($239,000; £146,000).
I just saw this on BBC News and found it fascinating. I think this is the first time I’ve heard of cloning being used for something other than science-wow factor. And it really had potential. If the price comes down (and it’s not that high at the moment coming out around £24,333 a dog according to some quick maths on the artical) I could see things like cloned Crufts winners being quite popular with the wealthy.
What's the lifespan for cloned animals with modern technology?
I can see this being cost prohibitive if they have to replace the dogs every few years or so.
And this is why you don't watch anything produced by Ronald D. Moore after he had his brain surgically removed and replaced with a bag of elephant semen.-Gramzamber, on why Caprica sucks
Norade wrote:Why would a clone have a shorter life expectancy than any other animal?
Last I heard, this is actually a serious problem with cloning animals; they age at a much more rapid rate, almost to the point where they die as if they had been born at the same time as the original organism.
Or so that's what I've gathered (but I might be remembering incorrectly).
"Now let us be clear, my friends. The fruits of our science that you receive and the many millions of benefits that justify them, are a gift. Be grateful. Or be silent." -Modified Quote
Norade wrote:Why would a clone have a shorter life expectancy than any other animal?
Last I heard, this is actually a serious problem with cloning animals; they age at a much more rapid rate, almost to the point where they die as if they had been born at the same time as the original organism.
Or so that's what I've gathered (but I might be remembering incorrectly).
A cells "lifespan" is governed by the telomeres at the end of the chromosomes, and each time the a cell duplicates the telomeres grow shorter. So if you take the cells of a baby, they can divide a certain amount of time, while if you clone a cell from an adult creature the cells have already "used up" most of their telomeres, and thus aren't allotted as many divides as an animal born naturally.
Norade wrote:Why would a clone have a shorter life expectancy than any other animal?
Last I heard, this is actually a serious problem with cloning animals; they age at a much more rapid rate, almost to the point where they die as if they had been born at the same time as the original organism.
Or so that's what I've gathered (but I might be remembering incorrectly).
A cells "lifespan" is governed by the telomeres at the end of the chromosomes, and each time the a cell duplicates the telomeres grow shorter. So if you take the cells of a baby, they can divide a certain amount of time, while if you clone a cell from an adult creature the cells have already "used up" most of their telomeres, and thus aren't allotted as many divides as an animal born naturally.
Let me know if I'm mistaken here: the telomere lengths shorten as a means of protection against genetic damage, since each time a cell divides, the chance of a malignant change occurring goes up. The telomeres are reset for egg cells (does the same happen for sperm cells?), since a) the egg cells are largely created early in the human lifespan (and not too much would need to be added to the telomeres) and b) if an egg cell does by chance undergo a bad mutation, it will likely fail to implant or get much past conception, and fail while minimizing the loss of resources by the mother.
Darksider wrote:I can see this being cost prohibitive if they have to replace the dogs every few years or so.
Working dogs don't have that long a productive life in any case. As many sniffer dogs aren't even trained until fully adult, that just cuts into it further. These dogs start training as puppies. Depending on how long they live, that might result in a work life comparable to a naturally conceived dog.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Molyneux wrote:A cells "lifespan" is governed by the telomeres at the end of the chromosomes, and each time the a cell duplicates the telomeres grow shorter. So if you take the cells of a baby, they can divide a certain amount of time, while if you clone a cell from an adult creature the cells have already "used up" most of their telomeres, and thus aren't allotted as many divides as an animal born naturally.
You mean "conceived naturally" - cloned animals are born just like non-cloned animals, the difference is that they are implanted in a host mother rather than being a product of her conception.
the egg cells are largely created early in the human lifespan
Yes, quite early. Before birth. In fact, that's the case for all placental mammals so far as I know, all the egg cells are produced before the animal is born. (Not sure about marsupials, and I presume monotremes develop their next generation of eggs while still in the egg themselves)
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Molyneux wrote:A cells "lifespan" is governed by the telomeres at the end of the chromosomes, and each time the a cell duplicates the telomeres grow shorter. So if you take the cells of a baby, they can divide a certain amount of time, while if you clone a cell from an adult creature the cells have already "used up" most of their telomeres, and thus aren't allotted as many divides as an animal born naturally.
You mean "conceived naturally" - cloned animals are born just like non-cloned animals, the difference is that they are implanted in a host mother rather than being a product of her conception.
the egg cells are largely created early in the human lifespan
Yes, quite early. Before birth. In fact, that's the case for all placental mammals so far as I know, all the egg cells are produced before the animal is born. (Not sure about marsupials, and I presume monotremes develop their next generation of eggs while still in the egg themselves)
Your corrections are...er, correct. Sorry for the mistakes, that's what I get for posting in a hurry before work (and before coffee).
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
