Propagation of Elite Rescue Dogs by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

The objective of the present study was to compare the efficiency of two oocyte activation culture media to produce cloned dogs from an elite rescue dog and to analyze their behavioral tendencies. In somatic cell nuclear transfer procedure, fused couplets were activated by calcium ionophore treatment for 4 min, cultured in two media: modified synthetic oviduct fluid (mSOF) with 1.9 mmol/L 6-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) (SOF-DMAP) or porcine zygote medium (PZM-5) with 1.9 mmol/L DMAP (PZM-DMAP) for 4 h, and then were transferred into recipients. After embryo transfer, pregnancy was detected in one out of three surrogate mothers that received cloned embryos from the PZM-DMAP group (33.3%), and one pregnancy (25%) was detected in four surrogate mothers receiving cloned embryos from the SOF-DMAP group. Each pregnant dog gave birth to one healthy cloned puppy by cesarean section. We conducted the puppy aptitude test with two cloned puppies; the two cloned puppies were classified as the same type, accepting humans and leaders easily. The present study indicated that the type of medium used in 6-DMAP culture did not increase in cloning efficiency and dogs cloned using donor cells derived from one elite dog have similar behavioral tendencies.