Tracing Dolly – How to Find Clones using DNA

AAAS, Boston, February 15th, 2008: Dolly for Dinner

Patrick Cunningham

Trinity, College Dublin

and

Chief Scientific Adviser to the

Government of Ireland

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Dolly

1996-2003

RIP

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First Clones

Sheep 1996 “Dolly”

Cattle 1998

Goat 1998

Pig 2000

Rabbit 2001

Horse 2003

2007 Clones Alive: 4,000 Cattle

1,500 Pigs

(US, EU, Argentina, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand.)

Source: European Food Safety Authority, Dec. 2007.

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“Bring ‘em on….”

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Implant in surrogate dam

Culture somatic cells& inject nucleus

Remove nucleus

Nuclear DNASource

Egg Donor

Activate; Fuse

Cloned animal born

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Embryo Survival During Pregnancy

At Day 50 AI 67%

IVF 58%

Clones 65%

After Day 50 AI Normal

IVF ”

Clones One third

(mainly placental development)

At Birth Large Offspring;

Increased perinatal mortality

Source: European Food Safety Authority, Dec. 2007.

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Cloning Success Rates

(Viable offspring / transferred cloned embryos) %

Pigs: 1% 17 % (55 embryos)

Cattle: 7% (3,374 embryos).

2,170 clones implanted 106 live births 82 surviving clones.(5%) (4%)

Source: European Food Safety Authority, Dec. 2007.

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Cloning: Summary

No threat to human health (EFSA, FDA)

Negative impact on animal welfare

High cost, so confined to animals for breeding

Possible “no clone” product lines

Possible consumer resistance (GM parallel?).

KrogerSafeway

Dean FoodsWholefoods

.

.

.

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FDA USDA

Regulates the safety and labelling of all food products except traditional meats, poultry and egg products.

Regulates the safety and labelling of traditional meat, poultry and egg products and has a role in promoting American food products.

The Washington Post, January 16th, 2008

“We have no further safety concerns…We conclude that meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are safe as food we eat every day.”

“USDA has encouraged technology providers to maintain their voluntary moratorium on sending milk and meat from cloned animals into the food supply chain during this transition time.”

Stephen Sundlof, Director, FDA Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

Bruce I. Knight, Undersecretary of agriculture for marketing and regulatory programmes.

What they say…

Responsibility

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GM Food Gene Therapy Nanotech Pharmacogenetics

Source: Eurobarometer, 2006.

Support for Four TechnologiesIn Europe

27%

80%

45% 44%

27%

Familiarity

50%55%

50%

Support

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Reasons for Opposition:

Risk to human health;

Environmental impact;

Power of multi-national corporations;

Deterioration in food quality;

Threat to traditional farming; and

General moral acceptability.

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Source: Eurobarometer, 2006.

<<<< NEGATIVE Perceptions of GM Food POSITIVE

>>>>

Moral Acceptability

Safety

Usefulness 642 8 10

Confidence in Regulations

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GM Certification in EU, Japan

DNA sequenceFiled by developer

CornSoyaetc

Shipper

Retailer

Consumer

GM

?

?

?

?

Check sequenceagainst database

Processor

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Why Traceability #1?

CORN FED?

CLONED?

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Consumer protection:“What you pay for is what you get”

Retailer protection:“Guarantee of authenticity of products”

Brand protection:for producer, packer, retailer

Brand enhancement: “Adds value to added value”.

Why Traceability #2?

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Why DNA Traceability?

Unique animal identity (“God’s barcode”)

DNA the ONLY tamper-proof method

Independent

Traces product, not labels

Tracing clones is straight-forward

Tracing progeny of clones also possible i.e. paternity testing

Competitive in cost.

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Farm

Packer

Retailer

Consumer

Carcass DNA Profiles

Meat DNA Profiles

Match?

Meat DNA Profile

Match?

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Farm

Packer

Retailer

Consumer

Carcass DNA Profiles

Meat DNA Profiles

Match?

Clone DNA Profile

Match?

Meat DNA Profile

Match?

Cloned Animal

Animal DNA Profiles

Match?

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Thank you