The lamb was named Mustag in honor of one of the prominent peaks in the Kashgar range in the southeast of the Pamir Mountains, which is argali’s homeland.
“The ability to breed viable offspring from cloned animals shows that the creation of somatic cell banks serving as nucleus donors for cloning should be regarded as one of the most effective methods for preserving the genetic biodiversity of farm animals and their wild relatives. Besides that, cloning is a promising technological platform for genomic editing of food-producing animals,” the center’s statement emphasized.
Currently, a group of researchers is working on further improving of the cloning technology’s efficiency. This could serve as a basis for the widespread introduction of genome-editing technology into agricultural production and as a method for restoring small populations of wild animal species.
In 2020, scientists at the center achieved a significant milestone by successfully cloning a cow for the first time. They named her Tsvetochek (Flower). In December 2022, a female calf named Decembrist was born from her.
