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SEOUL (AFP) — A South Korean bio-engineering company Thursday claimed a world first, saying it has successfully cloned dogs using stem cells derived from fat tissue.

RNL Bio said two puppies were cloned using stem cells derived from adipose tissue which was taken from a beagle.

The firm said it was the first time that dogs have been cloned from adipose stem cells rather than from somatic cells.

RNL Bio said it extracted fat tissue from the beagle last October, isolated and expanded stem cells from it and developed 84 cloned embryos.

The embryos were transplanted into five surrogate mother dogs on November 10 and one of the five produced two clones, named Magic and Stem.

“RNL Bio achieved similar cloning efficiency with stem cells to that of conventional method (using somatic cells),” the company said in a statement.

Independent confirmation of the reported achievement was not available.

The company handed out pictures of the puppies but said it did not show them in public for fear that the surrogate mother dogs would get excited and harm them.

Park Se-Pill, a cloning expert not linked to RNL Bio, said the apparent technological breakthrough would diversify methods for cloning pets and cut costs.

“It also raises the possibility of pet cloning turning into a full-fledged industry,” he added.

The firm said stem cells derived from adipose tissue have great potential in treating Alzheimer’s, diabetes, osteo-arthritis and other diseases in humans.

RNL Bio last year arranged the re-creation of a pitbull terrier for a US woman in what it claimed was the world’s first commercial cloning. Researchers at that time used the dead dog’s refrigerated ear tissue to create the clones.

Source: AFP