Brazil raises first clone of dead cow

[Althalus]

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian scientists have managed for the first time to raise a clone from genetic material taken from a dead cow, the government farm and livestock research company, Embrapa, says.

"This technique could have use in cases when endangered species die after being hit by cars," Embrapa veterinarian Rodolfo Rumpf told Reuters on Wednesday.

The healthy calf, which was born on September 4, was christened Lenda after her mother, who died after being hit by a vehicle on the Valley of the Sun Ranch in central Brazil in November 2002, he said.

"The owners called us up after the accident, distressed over the loss of their cherished cow, and we told them to take out her ovaries and rush them to our labs," said Rumpf, who added that all the eggs had died in transit.

"We then took cell samples from the material surrounding the eggs. After producing eight embryos from the cells, we implanted them in five surrogate cows and one came to full term," said Rumpf, whose team also produced Brazil's first cloned cow, Victoria, now 2-1/2 years old and healthy.

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