Animal cloning--the route to new genomics in agriculture and medicine

This paper reviews the origin and development of animal cloning in metazoans starting with primitive experiments performed during the late 1880's and early 1900's, followed by nuclear transplantation in amphibians in 1952, then extended to fish and insects in the 1960's, and finally to mammals in the 1980's. Emphasis is placed on the applications of mammalian cloning to agriculture, medicine, and the conservation of endangered species. In addition, the introduction of genes via random insertion or gene targeting into the genome of donor cells to be used for cloning has opened up another route for new genomics in agriculture and medicine. The production of transgenic clones starting in 1997 has indeed contributed a milestone to scientific research. Although cloning efficiency is still low, certain kinds of experiments are quite feasible, and we anticipate improvements in the future.