Marc Flemming
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Registered: Jan 2003
Local time: 11:03 PM
Location: Santa Cruz
Posts: 3663
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AUSTRALIA'S first cloned sheep, Matilda, has died unexpectedly of unknown causes, the South Australian Research Institute (SARDI) has announced.
Executive Director Rob Lewis said an independent autopsy failed to identify what killed Matilda, who died at the Turretfield Research Centre, north of Adelaide, on the weekend.
Her body was found by staff on Sunday morning.
"On Saturday, when she was last inspected, she was remarkably healthy," Mr Lewis said today.
"The animal has been particularly sprightly and her death was very unexpected."
He said on-going observations of Matilda since she was born in April 2000 showed she was a healthy animal.
Scientists cloned Matilda using a technique similar to that used for the world's first cloned sheep, Dolly, in Scotland in 1996.
At the age of nine months, she gave birth to healthy triplets using a speed-breeding technique.
That was more than a year younger than most sheep, and her offspring have also gone on to successfully reproduce.
Mr Lewis said SARDI scientists were recognised internationally for their cloning expertise and had produced several other fit and healthy cloned sheep since Matilda.
He said Matilda's cloning was a breakthrough.
"That we could clone sheep highlighted the potential of the technology, particularly to livestock producers wanting to protect or rescue the genetic material of superior or elite animals," he said.
"Matilda has made her contribution to the program.
"She was the first of the cloned sheep, she was the one that provided the confidence to our science community that we could do this technology, she was the one that gave us standing internationally.
"The program continues and Matilda was a very important part of that."
Mr Lewis said SARDI was continuing to develop the cloning technology, which was also valuable for scientists studying how cells could be reprogrammed to function like seemingly unrelated cells.
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02-07-2003 05:26 PM
