In order to save the endangered Arctic wolf, a Chinese company has now successfully cloned the first wolf pup. Scientists are hoping for a way to save species that are threatened with extinction. The Arctic wolf was added to the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2012.

Maya, the first cloned arctic wolf

At a press conference on September 19, 2022, the Chinese company Sinogene introduced “Maya,” the wolf pup.

Zhao Jianping, vice president of Sinogene, explained here that for cloning, the donor cells came from a skin sample of a wild arctic wolf - also named "Maya" - kept in the Harbin Polar Park. “The ancient Maya” originally came from Canada before moving to Asia in 2006.

Researchers at Sinogene fused skin cells from Maya the wolf with immature eggs from dogs. So they originally created 137 Arctic wolf embryos. 85 of these were successfully transplanted into a total of seven beagles. Such a hybrid pregnancy is possible because dogs share enough DNA with wolves.

Ultimately, only one of the embryos fully developed: Maya. She was born on June 10th of this year.

She now has the same genome as the original wolf, but doesn't grow up with her. The beagle lady who acted as a surrogate mother can continue to take on the role of mother. Because there is also a problem with socialization for cloned pets; it must begin as early as possible, explains Zhao Jianping.

Glimmer of hope for endangered species

Scientists describe Sinogene's success as a milestone and a ray of hope for many endangered species.
Sinogene specializes in pet cloning and presented the first cloned cat three years ago.

At the press conference, Sinogene and Beijing Wildlife Park announced plans to establish cooperation. This collaboration aims to enable the conservation of genetic seeds from rare and endangered wild animals through cloning technology.

Source:

Sinogene , Focus , t3n

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