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Updated July 7th, 2021 at 18:17 IST

Researchers in Russia clone cow to produce milk for lactose-intolerant people

Russian researchers successfully clone cow to produce lactose-free milk at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. The unnamed calf was born in April.

Reported by: Dipaneeta Das
Russia
IMAGE: UNSPLASH | Image:self
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In case you are allergic to dairy products and face severe indigestion and abdominal cramps on consuming milk and other dairy products, now there's a way you can have all of your favourite milk-based items. Russian researchers have successfully cloned cow to produce lactose-free milk at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. Scientists at the Ernst Federal Livestock Science Center in Moscow have produced the first-ever cloned calf. The 14-months-old calf weighs about 410kilograms and produces milk without the beta-lactoglobulin, which is said to cause lactose intolerance in humans. For the first year, the calf was kept with her mother and later on maturity was moved with other cows and is reported to be healthy with a normal reproductive cycle.

The unnamed calf was born in April 2020. The researchers at Ernst Federal spliced up her genes and successfully removed the beta-lactoglobulin in the hope to produce hypoallergenic milk, reported Doklady journal of Biochemistry and Physics. The experiment was carried out under the supervision of Galina Singina, who advised the use of the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) method. Under this method, the nuclei are moved from the normal cells of a donor animal to an egg and then removed. The team wishes to impregnate a herd with embryos of the edited genes to create a generation of lactose-free milk producers, naturally. The researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to remove beta-lactoglobulin.

Livestock cloning: Route to "perfect animals"

 

Dolly, the sheep

 

Scientists believe cloning could be the future of agriculture to produce "perfect" animals. Researchers have been cloning since 1996, and have successfully cloned several cattle like Dolly, the sheep and several other deer, horses, pigs, and bulls. Dolly was born out of 3 mothers with their eggs combined artificially to produce the desired embryo. Her birth also included the SCNT method. Even though she was not the first animal to be cloned, she received much attention on being the first to be cloned from an adult cell. Cloning is basically breeding of biological copy, only better. By cloning, farmers can introduce natural positive changes in their herds faster than conventional breeding. Farmers can clone livestock to produce better quality meat and dairy products.

(Input: FDA)

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Published July 7th, 2021 at 18:17 IST

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