Piglets born from handmade cloning, an innovative cloning method without micromanipulation.

Area of Science:

• Animal Science
• Reproductive Biology
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Traditional cloning (TC) in pigs relies on complex micromanipulation.
• Porcine handmade cloning (HMC) offers a simplified alternative, but live offspring had not been achieved.
• Optimizing HMC is crucial for its practical application in swine reproduction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the first successful birth of healthy piglets using porcine handmade cloning (HMC).
• To evaluate the efficiency and developmental rates of embryos produced via HMC.
• To demonstrate the biological viability of HMC for producing swine offspring.

Main Methods:

• Optimized manual procedures for embryo reconstruction in HMC, including fusion and activation steps.
• In vitro culture (IVC) of HMC-produced embryos to the blastocyst stage.
• Surgical transfer of HMC-derived blastocysts into synchronized recipient sows.

Main Results:

• Achieved a high blastocyst development rate of 50.1% from HMC-reconstructed embryos, with an average cell number of 77.
• Reported the birth of healthy piglets from HMC, with a live birth efficiency of 17.2% (10/58) for HMC embryos.
• Observed the highest in vitro developmental rate to date for porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

Conclusions:

• Porcine handmade cloning (HMC) can successfully produce healthy piglets, validating its biological value.
• HMC represents a promising, simplified approach for swine cloning with potential for large-scale application.
• Further in vivo studies are necessary to fully stabilize and optimize the HMC technique for broader use.