The landscape of equine reproduction research dramatically changed May 29, when a University of Idaho (UI) and Utah State University team announced they were the first to clone a member of the equine family–the mule–according to an article to be published in the journal Science. The research team includes Gordon Woods, DVM, MS, PhD, Dipl. ACT, UI professor of animal and veterinary science; Kenneth L. White, PhD, Utah State University professor of animal science; and Dirk Vanderwall, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACT, UI assistant professor of animal and veterinary science.

“Idaho Gem,” a mule colt, was born on May 4 at UI’s animal and veterinary science department in Moscow, Idaho, but researchers had to wait to announce his arrival. They first had to verify whether he was genetically identical to DNA from a fetal cell culture first established at UI in 1998. After genetic verification, researches submitted a manuscript summarizing the project to Science. It was fast-tracked to publication, and the foal’s announcement was made to coincide with the journal’s online publication date of the article.

In cloning, using microsurgery techniques, scientists remove the nucleus from an egg cell, which contains the cell’s genetic material, creating an enucleated egg. A somatic cell (which is any body cell other than an egg or sperm cell) is placed adjacent to the enucleated egg, making sure the membranes of the two cells are in contact. An electric pulse fuses the egg cell and the somatic cell with the new genetic material. The cell is then treated in media that allows it to develop into an embryo that can be implanted in a surrogate mare’s womb and carried to term.

Researchers hold that this technology will not replace natural sexual reproduction in animals, but allows scientists to increase the impact of important genetic traits in populations of animals