Clone rare species

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 1
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

40%
Certainty

20%
Harms

10%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Cloning technology is advancing rapidly. For rare mammals, cloning provides the potential to increase reproductive output from a small number of individuals by using surrogate parents of closely related but non-threatened species.

Note that many relevant studies may be documented in journals that are not primarily conservation-related and which are, therefore, not included in our systematic searches for evidence.

Study locations

Key messages

One study evaluated the effects of cloning rare species. This study was in Iran.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE (0 STUDIES)

POPULATION RESPONSE (1 STUDY)

Reproductive success (1 study): A controlled study in Iran found that immature eggs of domestic sheep have potential to be used for cloning of Esfahan mouflon.

BEHAVIOUR (0 STUDIES)

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A controlled study (date not stated) in Iran (Hajian et al. 2011) found that immature eggs (oocytes) of domestic sheep have potential to be used for interspecies conservation cloning of Esfahan mouflon Ovis orientalis isphahanica. The success rate for transferring cell nuclei attached to Esfahan mouflon cells to domestic sheep oocytes (14.4%) did not significantly differ from that for transfer of nuclei attached to domestic sheep cells (22.1%). Subsequently, of 12 cloned mouflon blastocysts (early-stage cell mass which goes on to form an embryo) transferred to five domestic sheep recipients, two pregnancies resulted. In both cases live births of cloned Esfahan mouflon lambs resulted, but the lambs died soon after birth. Of 1,410 oocytes that had had their nucleus removed, 1,105 and 305 were attached to Esfahan mouflon and domestic sheep cells, respectively. Prior to transferring nuclei, donor cells were serum starved for 5 days. In vitro matured domestic sheep oocytes that had had their nucleus removed were then reconstituted with nuclei donor cells of mouflon and domestic sheep.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Hajian M., Hosseini S.M., Forouzanfar M., Abedi P., Ostadhosseini S., Hossieni L., Moulavi F., Gourabi H., Shahverdi A.H., Vosough Taghi Dizaj A., Kalantari S.A., Fotouhi Z., Iranpour R., Mahyar H., Amiri-Yekta A. & Nasr-Esfahani M.H. (2011) Conservation Cloning of vulnerable Esfahan mouflon (Ovis orientalis isphahanica): in vitro and in vivo studies. European Journal of Wildlife Research (formerly Zeitschrift für Jagdwissenschaft 1955-2003), 57, 959-969.

Please cite as:

Littlewood, N.A., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K., Martin, P.A., Lockhart, S.L., Schoonover, R.F., Wilman, E., Bladon, A.J., Sainsbury, K.A., Pimm S. and Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Terrestrial Mammal Conservation: Global Evidence for the Effects of Interventions for terrestrial mammals excluding bats and primates. Synopses of Conservation Evidence Series. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Terrestrial Mammal Conservation

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