World's first cloned endangered Xizang cattle species born

The world's first cloned endangered Xizang cattle species have been born, the local government in the Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region confirmed in a WeChat post on Monday. 

Recently, endangered cattle breeds Zhangmu cattle and Apeijiaza cattle, found on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, have been successfully bred artificially using somatic cell cloning technology.

Yu Dawei, a researcher from the Beijing institute of animal husbandry and veterinary medicine of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that researchers collected the ear tissue of Zhangmu cattle and Apeijiaza cattle, established a fibroblast cell line after returning to the laboratory, and then used somatic cell nuclear transfer technology to prepare clones embryos. 

The cloned embryos were transplanted into surrogate cows, and after full-term pregnancy, we obtained eight cloned cows, Yu said. 

Zhangmu cattle and Apeijiaza cattle are native to the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and are on the verge of extinction. 

In 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Animal Husbandry Station, and relevant Xizang departments urgently launched a rescue and protection operation for Zhangmu cattle and Apeijiaza cattle, collected blood samples of the two types of cattle, and completed whole-genome resequencing data collection, and finally achieved the rescue and protection of endangered cattle breeds in Xizang through somatic cell conservation, cloned embryo restoration and other technologies.

Looking ahead, authorities will carry out cloned embryo transplantation of Zhangmu cattle and Apeijiaza cattle in Xizang, combining cloning technology with conventional breeding technology to build a complete genetic system and improve resource protection and utilization system.