Thursday, April 25, 2002

CONTACT: Kimberly Carlyle, (706) 542-8083, kosborne@uga.edu

CALF CLONED USING CELLS OF SLAUGHTERED COW DELIVERED
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Collaboration with ProLinia, Inc. Results in Breakthrough in Cattle Production

ATHENS, Ga. — Scientists at the University of Georgia and ProLinia, Inc., an agricultural biotechnology company, have produced the first calf ever cloned from cells of a slaughtered cow. The calf, delivered by Caesarian section Monday, April 22, 2002, at 11 a.m., is alive and healthy today. This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize beef cattle production by allowing producers to select cells from the highest quality meat after it has been graded to clone animals to stock their herd.

"This research has tremendous implications for the livestock industry," said Mike Wanner, President of ProLinia, Inc. "Genetics represent the boundary of what an animal can ultimately become. Producers will be able to go into a processing plant after the meat is graded, select the best beef on the line, and use those genetics to develop and improve their herd. In a sense, they will be able to see what kind of quality beef they can produce before they make their investment."

The process will also allow researchers to study the roles of genetics and environment in beef production. The centuries-old "nature-nurture" debate is being tested in the laboratories of UGA.

"Genetics plays a critical role in the ultimate quality of the meat we eat. Equally important are the animal husbandry practices used, like the quality of feed provided," said Steve Stice, professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and chief scientific officer at ProLinia, Inc. "Some traits are more heritable than others. We believe that production and meat quality traits like marbling and tenderness are readily passed on to an animal’s offspring and in this case, the animal’s clone. This science will give us an opportunity to prove our theories and ultimately ranchers and meat producers will be given a tool to produce more consistent, higher quality meat."

Genetic material for the clone was taken from the cow’s kidney area, a part routinely left with the side of beef in processing, approximately 48 hours after the cow had been slaughtered in a local commercial facility. The cells were processed for transport and cloned in a UGA-ProLinia laboratory. The ProLinia scientific team, under the direction of John Gibbons and Wash Respess, performed a similar process with cells from the intercostal region (between the ribs) and cells from the end of the forelimb.

"It was important that we did not modify the processing of the beef," said Wanner. "We wanted to develop a procedure that had little or no disruption to the meat processors' routine. Processors do not have the luxury of modifying their practice after the beef receives a favorable grade. We needed to use cells from parts that remain with the saleable meat."

The female calf, named K.C. for "kidney cell," is an Angus-Hereford cross sometimes called a "Black Baldy." The surgical team that delivered the calf at the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine was led by Fred Caldwell, DVM. The medical team that cared for the calf after delivery, also from UGA, was led by Amelia Woolums, DVM.

Stice is one of the world’s leading cloning researchers. In the summer of 2001, Stice and his ProLinia team pioneered a technique that virtually tripled the success rate for calf cloning, from one in 20 successful births to one in seven. The results of that process were eight calves with an age variance spanning eight months that were all clones of a single cow. He produced the first cloned transgenic calves in 1998 and holds U.S. patents on cloning processes and animal embryonic stem cells.

The technology developed for producing this cloned calf will be patented by UGA and exclusively licensed by ProLinia. ProLinia’s goal is to become the high-volume provider of superior genetics exclusively to the cattle and hog production industries. Sponsored research and licensing agreements with the UGA Research Foundation provide ProLinia with access to the University’s state of the art laboratories and demonstration production facilities. For more information about ProLinia, headquartered in Athens, Ga., please see www.prolinia.com.

For more information about Steve Stice including animated infographics and downloadable photos related to this story, please see www.uga.edu/news/stice. For video/TV, contact Pete Konenkamp at (706) 542-8080.

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