Today marks 15 years since the world learned of the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal in history . We collect 7 curious anecdotes about his birth:
He was born in 1996.Dolly the sheep, Finn Dorset breed, was born on July 5, 1996 at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh (Scotland), after a group of scientists extracted the nucleus with genetic material from an adult cell to introduce it into an ovule previously ” enucleated “from another sheep. Dolly’s existence was not disclosed until seven months later, on February 23, 1997.
Bioethics Committee.Bill Clinton, who a few months earlier had appointed a national bioethics commission to advise on dilemmas that may arise in medical research and examine genetic issues, headed by Harold Chapiro, asked on Monday, February 24, that the commission be put into operation to review , in his own words? the legal and illegal issues linked to the use of technology to clone embryos ?, and asked for a report in 90 days.
Canon also makes copies.Advertising also echoed cloning. Canon took out an advertisement with two identical sheep. “What an event! We have been making perfect copies for years,” said the ad, alluding to the company’s photocopiers.
277. It took 277 attempts to reach Dolly, with 277 eggs, from which a single sheep was born. However, thirteen of those eggs developed into embryos, although only one was eventually chosen to reach the end of pregnancy.
From sailor to embryologist.When he told his story to Ian Wilmut, Dolly’s “scientist father”, he said that at age 10 he decided he wanted to be a sailor. But at age 14, he discovered that he suffered from a type of color blindness and had to think of another career, but one that allowed him to spend time outdoors. He graduated from agriculture, started working in farms, then studied biology and, at the University of Nottingham, discovered a new passion: embryos. As Gina Kolata recounts, “the mysteries of embryo development, the desire to see life at the very moment of its emergence” was what fascinated her.
Garnishment broken.The article about Dolly inNature It was published on February 26, 1997. A big press conference was scheduled to be held on February 25, the day before the magazine lifted the embargo and journalists were free to write about Dolly. But on Saturday February 22,The Guardianbroke the silence. The media frenzy took Wilmut and others by surprise.
Megan and Morag.Before Dolly, in 1995, Ian Wilmut and his colleague Campbell, at the Roslin Institute, produced two identical twin sheep, Megan and Morag, cloned from embryonic cells with the same technique (nuclear transfer) that was later used with Dolly. Their achievement was published on March 7, 1996. The two shared a stable with Dolly during the first months of the birth of the most famous clone in history.
