A sheep born just outside Edinburgh in Scotland became world famous on this day, 25 years ago.
Dolly the Sheep (as she was known) was the first sheep cloned from an adult cell – and sparked a huge surge in interest in cloning technology, as well as a panic about the possibility of human cloning.
Dolly was named after country singer Dolly Parton (because she was cloned from a mammary cell).
Dr Ian Wilmut, head of the research team at Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, said, “Dolly is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s.”
(Dolly, incidentally, was not offended: her agent said simply, “There’s no such thing as baa’d publicity.”)
The mammary cell’s nucleus was implanted in an unfertilised egg from another adult sheep, and Dollly was born.
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She was genetically identical to the sheep from whom the mammary cell was taken.
Previously, it had been believed that it was not possible to clone an animal from an adult cell – Dolly was the first lamb born out of 277 attempts.
The breakthrough sparked a panic – including far-fetched ideas that the same technique could be used to bring Hitler back to life.
Read more: yahoo
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