Successfully cloned mice from a drop of blood

For the first time, Japanese scientists successfully cloned a mouse from a drop of blood from another mouse.

The team at the Riken BioResource Center, City of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan led by scientist Atsuo Ogura used a blood cell in a rat's circulatory system to create its own copy.

The result of the cloning work is a female mouse that has a normal lifespan and can reproduce in adulthood.

This is the first time scientists cloned mice from a drop of blood

Earlier, the team leader took blood from a female mouse's tail, isolated white blood cells and cloned to multiply it by a method similar to the Dolly sheep replication technique in Edinburgh, England.

Presented in the American journal Biology of Reproduction, the team said this was: 'for the first time mice were cloned with peripheral blood cells'.

The group said the purpose of this is to keep the mice strains of laboratory value.'This technique is applied to create a perfect copy of priceless mouse strains that cannot be kept with other reproductive support techniques such as IVF or inoculated sperm into oocytes'.

Previously, Japan cloned many mice from different cells on the original animal, including white blood cells found in lymph nodes, bone marrow and liver.

Scientists at a scientific institute are linked to the center, each creating 600 perfect copies of the physical to the spirit of a super meat and super-milk rat.