A calf has been born that is naturally resistant to brucellosis and, under laboratory conditions, resistant to tuberculosis and salmonellosis, officials said Friday.
"After testing hundreds of cattle, scientists found one that has a natural disease resistance," said Diane Oswald, an official of the Large Animal Clinic at the College of Veterinary Medicine.
"Hopefully this will lower the number of cases with these three diseases."
A&M has been involved in cloning since 1997, when an anonymous couple gave the university $2.3 million to clone their pet border collie, Missy. Several leading cloning researchers are assigned to what has become known on campus as the "Missyplicity Project."
"Brucellosis has been one of the biggest problems facing the cattle industry," Gene Hall of the Texas Farm Bureau, said Friday. "What we hope this means is the start of something really important in the Texas livestock industry."
Brucellosis prompts pregnant cows to spontaneously abort their young.
"Millions of dollars over a period of three decades has been spent trying to eradicate brucellosis," Hall said.
He rejected claims that "genetic engineering" is bad for food products such as cattle.
"We have been doing genetic engineering since man first became a keeper of livestock," he said. "Hybrids are a form of genetic engineering."
Texas A&M officials said while the diseases were "somewhat isolated" in the United States, they were widespread elsewhere around the world, and U.S. farmers and ranchers were always on the alert for outbreaks from other countries.
"Hopefully this will lower the number of cases with these three diseases," Oswald said.
The calf was cloned using DNA material from a bull that died three years ago, something else that excited Hall.
"The genetic material from a high-powered bull can survive him for many generations. The development of these genetic strains in livestock breeding for special characteristics is one of the great leaps of science in agriculture," he said.
"The use of superior genetic materials, who knows where it will lead, but we are confident it will lead to the development of quality livestock products."
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