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Enucleation Pre-Enucleation:
Oocytes (unfertilized embryos) are incubated with a DNA specific
stain to identify all DNA material that needs to be removed.
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Enucleation:
A pipette holds the oocyte while a needle is inserted through
the
zona pellucida of the oocyte. The Chromosomes and the polar body
are drawn into the needle
removing this material from the oocyte. |
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Enucleation Complete:
Once this DNA material is removed, all that remains inside the
zona pellucida is the cytoplasm. The oocyte is ready to receive the
DNA material of the animal being cloned. |
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Fibroblast pickup:
A fibroblast cell is selected from
the founder’s cell line and loaded into the needle.
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DNA Transfer:
The needle loaded with the fibroblast cell is injected into the
hole in the zona. The cell is placed between the inner wall of the
zona pellucida and the cytoplasm. |
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Transfer complete:
When completed the result is a nuclear transfer couple where
the fibroblast cell is separate from the oocyte cytoplasm. |
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Fusion
Fusion 1:
The transferred oocytes are
exposed to an electrical stimulus that fuses the fibroblast cell into the oocyte
cytoplasm. |
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Fusion 2:
The fibroblast cell’s nucleus, with the founder animal’s
complete set of genes, enters the oocyte’s cytoplasm. Within a few hours
the embryos begins to divide |
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Embryo development and Transfer ofEmbryo:
The embryos are then grown in incubators for seven days. At this
time the embryos are evaluated
and the high quality embryos are ready for transfer. |
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Clone Embryo Transfer:
Once the NT or cloned embryos
have been evaluated they are transferred into recipients or host donors.
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The Birth
Nine months later, the clone calf is born under special care of
a team
of experts. |
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The Road Home:
60 to 90 days after birth the cloned calves have passed their
physical exams and are ready to make the trip to their owner’s farm or ranch.
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