The world's first cloned cat produced by using body cells may be born in June, according to Japanese researchers engaged in the project.
Researchers at the agricultural faculty of Yamaguchi University in Yamaguchi Prefecture clarified the prospect Monday following the successful test-tube raising of cloned egg cells to the extent that they could be implanted into cats' wombs.
"I am hoping to use this technique for preservation of Iriomote wildcats, Siberian tigers and other felines in danger of extinction," said Tatsuyuki Suzuki, a professor at the university.
Numerous cloning experiments have taken place throughout the world since the birth of a cloned sheep called Dolly, the first animal cloned from somatic cells. The Roslin Institute and PPL Therapeutics in Scotland announced the breakthrough in February 1997.
The birth of a cloned cat has so far not been achieved because the thick membranes of cats' egg cells make them technically difficult to clone.
At the end of last month, Suzuki's group transplanted nuclei from body cells taken from dead cats' fetuses into 20 nucleus-depleted cat egg cells one by one and cultivated the egg cells for six days.
One of the egg cells divided into about 100 and grew into a state that opened the way for implantation of the divided cells into wombs.
The group is currently freezing the egg cells for storage and plans to implant the cells in wombs of a different female cat next month.