Vietnam claims to have cloned endangered pot-bellied pigs

Vietnam has successfully cloned the endangered Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs using a somatic cell cloning technique.

Its National Institute of Animal Sciences under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced that four baby Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs were born on March 10 through a cloning technique.

According to a Vn Express report, it involves using somatic cells from ear tissues.

The Vietnamese pot-bellied pig is a traditional domestic breed reared for meat and is native to northern Vietnam, with its characteristic black and wrinkled skin.

The head of the Animal Sciences Institute, Pham Cong Thieu, said the cloning was a technological leap for Vietnam in animal cloning.

“The achievement has opened up new research paths for applying animal cloning technologies in choosing and preserving animal breeds that are very rare or have big economic value,” he said.

He added that this also opened up new research on creating livestock resistant to diseases and impacted by climate change.

Pham said cloned pigs could also be created for organ transplants in the future.

He said that although the facilities and equipment at the Animal Sciences Institute were limited, Vietnamese scientists managed to achieve the cloning.

Vietnam’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said this was an important scientific breakthrough for the country and proved its science and technological position in the region as well as globally.

The minister praised the researchers’ efforts, saying that Vietnamese scientists were creative and determined to develop the nation’s own achievements despite the limited equipment and facilities.

Cuong also asked the institute to continue with its studies and use the technology to preserve native animals and develop livestock as part of Vietnam’s animal husbandry strategy.

The Animal Science Institute first started the project to study the cloning of pigs by somatic cell nuclear transfer technology in July, 2017.

Somatic cell nuclear transfer technology was successfully carried out for the first time in 1996 in the United Kingdom, where Dolly, the famous cloned sheep, was born.