African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (16), pp. 1862-1868, 20 August 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Review

Handmade cloning of mammals

Adil Salim l Elsheikh

Department of Reproduction and Obstetrics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum, Shambat, P.O. Box 32, Sudan, E-mail: adilelgarrai@yahoo.com.

Accepted 26 June, 2007

Handmade embryo reconstitution (HMER) has been used to study the parameters of nuclear transfer experiments such as fusion process, nuclear remodeling, nuclear reprogramming, biochemical processes, and biological processes during embryogenesis. These parameters have been widely investigated using the micromanipulator-based cloning technique (MBCT). This technique is a tedious, multi-step, time consuming and complicated procedure that utilizes expensive equipment. The HMER has emerged as an alternative for the MBCT.  If the HMER is used to produce cloned animals it is known as handmade cloning (HMC). The HMC will allow the scientists to produce cloned animals with simple non-expensive equipment. Consequently, enormous data concerning all the facets of the nuclear transplantation experiments could be retrieved from various laboratories. This will allow a better future application of the cloning technique for the welfare of human, through production of animals with high genetic traits, rescue of endangered animal species and production of transgenic animals that can produce medicine for certain human diseases.

Key words: Cloning, chemical enucleation, oocyte bisection, mouse.