See Nature 407, 318 - 319 (2000)
Ageing: Cloning of mice to six generations
TERUHIKO WAKAYAMA, et al
"Mice have been cloned by nuclear transfer into enucleated oocytes, and
here we describe the reiterative
cloning of mice to four and six generations in two independent lines.
Successive generations showed no
signs of prematureageing, as judged by gross behaviouralparameters, and
there was no evidence of
shortening of telomeres at the ends of chromosomes, normally an indicator
of cellular senescence < in
fact, these appeared to increase slightly in length. This increase is
surprising, given that the number of
mitotic divisions greatly exceeds that of sexually produced animals and
that any deleterious effects of
cloning might be expected to be amplified in sequentially cloned mice. Our
results offer a new approach
to the study of organismal ageing."
I wonder if there is drift in nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes?
--
Jim Cummins
Murdoch University
<cummins at central.murdoch.edu.au>
