China develops ‘genetic editing’ technology to clone puppies – and it could be used to breed super dogs – Mirror.co.uk

Scientists i China have developed advanced genetic editing technology to successfully clone a beagle puppy.

Little Long Long, is China's first ever self-bred cloned dog, and is thought to be only the second in the world.

The beagle was created with double the amount of muscle mass as a normal dog of the same species, by 'deleting' a gene called myostatin.

Lai Liangxue, researcher at Guangzhou institute of biological medicine and health, told Science and Technology Daily : "This is a breakthrough, marking China as only the second country in the world to independently master dog-somatic clone technology, after South Korea."

Lai suggested that the cloning technology could be used to breed 'super dogs' which are better at hunting or running, to help police officers.

But some have criticised the process as being unethical after researchers said in the Journal of Molecular Cell Biology that they intended to create dogs with DNA mutations, including some that mimic human diseases, like Parkinson's.

Lai added: "The goal of the research is to explore an approach to the generation of the new disease dog models for biomedical research.

"Dogs are very close to humans in terms of metabolic, physiological and anatomical characteristics."

It has long been thought that dogs were one of the most difficult animals to clone, with only South Korea having achieved a successful 'copy' in the past.

For Lai's team in China, 65 embryos were 'edited and 27 pups were born, but one, Long Long, was born without the myostatin gene, therefore displaying increased muscle mass compared to that of her litter mates.

Guo Longpeng, the China press officer for the Asia division of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told Sixth Tone: "Cloning is unethical.

"Like any other laboratory animal, these animals are caged and manipulated in order to provide a lucrative bottom line."

There's also a worry that the dogs could be bred as 'novelty' pets, allowing certain scientific or research teams to capitalise on owners who desire their dog to be a certain size, or of higher intelligence.

Lai and his team of 28 colleagues have said they have no plans to breed the muscular beagles as pets.

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China develops 'genetic editing' technology to clone puppies - and it could be used to breed super dogs - Mirror.co.uk