China clones cattle via somatic cells

China's third successful cloning of calves via somatic cells has occurred in northwest Xinjiang region, a report said on Thursday.

China's third successful cloning of calves via somatic cells has occurred in northwest China's Xinjiang region, a report said on Thursday.

A pair of twin calves cloned via somatic cells was born on Wednesday in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, marking the first successful cloning of this type for the remote region and the third for the country.

The two calves, weighing 35 kg and 45 kg, are result of the joint cattle-cloning project with somatic cells carried out by a local biotechnology company and the Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The project, the largest of its kind in China, involves 30 additional cows which will soon give birth to cloned offspring.

Two other similar projects are being carried out in east China's Shandong province and Hebei province, North China.

Xinjiang's first cloned calf was stillborn as a result of difficult labour.