Some researchers are actively using cloning technology to create beauty queens among camels, champion racing camels, or to revive endangered species.
When Nisar Ahmad Wani successfully cloned the world’s first camel in 2009, it was a significant achievement. Currently, Wani is the scientific director of the Reproductive Biotechnology Center in Dubai. Wani and his team specialize in researching and developing new cloning techniques as well as maintaining a cell bank, which allows for the creation of replicas of animals, including buffalo and sheep. However, the center’s primary focus is on camel cloning, according to a CNN report on March 1.
Cloned young camel at the Reproductive Biotechnology Center. (Photo: AFP).
Every year, Wani’s center produces dozens of young camels with a single hump. Among them, the most famous are replicas of the “beauty queen” camels, featuring a perfect combination of pouty lips and long necks. Camel competitions are very popular in the Gulf region, with prizes reaching into the tens of millions of USD. In the past, participants could lose their right to compete if they used banned techniques such as injecting silicone and fillers into camels or inflating body parts with rubber rings. However, cloned camels are not prohibited.
In addition to “beauty queen” camels, Wani and his team also create racing champions to compete in various camel racing events across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and genetically modified camels to produce proteins in milk with numerous pharmaceutical applications. They can also provide camel owners with replicas of deceased pets through cell samples taken shortly after the animal’s death.
Wani conducts the cloning process using DNA from somatic cells taken from a donor animal. The donor somatic cell DNA is inserted into an egg and activated chemically. The DNA from the somatic cells begins to function like DNA from an embryo, Wani explains. After activation, they are cultured in a laboratory for about 7 to 8 days before being transferred into the womb of a surrogate camel. The newborn has all the genes from the donor animal. According to Wani, this process is very sophisticated and erratic, with a success rate of only about 10% for cloned camels compared to 60% for naturally born camels.
The Camel Breeding Center and the Camel Reproduction Center in Dubai also produce high-quality camels. However, instead of cloning, these two centers focus on embryo transfer, which involves collecting embryos from a female camel and implanting them into another to improve reproductive rates.
Currently, Wani’s team is exploring ways to use cloning technology to help endangered species. The wild Bactrian camel, a two-humped species, is among the most endangered large mammals on the planet, threatened by habitat loss and crossbreeding with domesticated camels. In an effort to conserve the Bactrian camel, Wani and his team are developing techniques that include somatic cell nuclear transfer, where a closely related livestock animal is used as an egg donor and surrogate to carry the cloned embryo to term. In 2017, the first cloned Bactrian camel was born at the center using this method after an embryo was implanted into a single-humped camel.
