Study on Hematological and Biochemical Characters of Cloned Duroc Pigs and Their Progeny.

Ting Gu,Jie Yang,Lvhua Luo,Zhenfang Wu,Junsong Shi,Linjun Hong,Zicong Li,Enqin Zheng,Gengyuan Cai

doi:10.3390/ani9110912

Abstract

Simple SummaryCloning is the most promising technique for passing the excellent phenotypes of the best individuals in the population. Here we studied the effects of cloning on Duroc pig, which is the most popular sire used in pig production due to its good growth and meat quality. Understanding the changes of cloned Duroc pigs and their progenies is of great importance for animal breeding and public acceptance. The results of this study suggested that there were no difference in blood parameters between the cloned Duroc and the conventionally bred Duroc and their progenies.To increase public understanding in cloned animals produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer technology, our previous study investigated the carcass trait and meat quality of the clones (paper accepted), and this study we further evaluate differences by investigating the blood parameters in cloned pigs and their progeny. We collected blood samples from the clones and conventionally bred non-clones and their progeny, and investigated their hematological and blood biochemical characters. Our results supported the hypothesis that there was no significant difference between clones and non-clones, or their progeny. Taken together, the data demonstrated that the clones or their progeny were similar with their controls in terms of blood parameters, although there were still other kinds of disorders, such as abnormal DNA methylation or histone modifications that needs further investigation. The data in this study agreed that cloning technique could be used to preserve and enlarge the genetics of the superior boars in pig breeding industry, especially in facing of the deadly threat of African Swine fever happened in China.

Highlights

IntroductionSomatic cell nuclear transfer technique (SCNT, called cloning) is more and more widely applied in multiplying elite animals, conservation of endangered species, and assisting producing the genetically modified animals [2,3,4]
The first mammal cloned from an adult’s somatic cell succeeded in 1996, when Dolly the sheep was born in the Roslin Institute in Scotland [1]
We investigated the hematological and blood biochemical characters of the cloned and conventionally bred Duroc pigs, which is the most popular sire line in the pig breeding industry and we collected samples of their crossbred and purebred progeny as well to figure out whether the blood parameters was changed by SCNT manipulation

Summary

Introduction

Somatic cell nuclear transfer technique (SCNT, called cloning) is more and more widely applied in multiplying elite animals, conservation of endangered species, and assisting producing the genetically modified animals [2,3,4]. Most countries have not approved the products, including meat and milk entering the food supply due to the uncertainty of the safety and health status of the cloned animals produced by SCNT technique [5]. Several studies indicated that the SCNT animals were different to the conventionally bred ones, such as significantly higher occurrence of malformation [6], higher whole genome-wide DNA. Hematological cells, such as white blood cells (WBCs, named leukocytes), red blood cells (RBCs, named erythrocytes), and platelets are involved in the immune response process [11,12]

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Conclusion