Taka's Weekly Topics 1
Jan. 10, 2000
さて、第一回目のWeekly Topicsは The Mainichi Daily News の１月６日付けの記事から引用しました。ページの終わりにはクイズと掲示板がついています。クイズの解答や英語についての質問および記事についてのあなたの御意見などお寄せください。
Lab to offer the world its first recloned cattle
By Yoshikazu Shinkai
Mainichi Shimbun
OSUMI, Kagoshima - Recloned cattle using skin cells cloned from body cells are expected to be born as early as the middle of this month, officials at a local research institute on cattle breeding for beefhave announced.
This is the first case in the world involving the recloning of large mammals, according to officialsat Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.
Officials at the research institute in Osumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, said nuclei of skin cells of cloned cattle were transferred into unfertilized eggs whose nuclei had been removed. The eggs were then put into the uteri of female cows, which led to pregnancy. The cloned cattle that provided skin cells in this experiment were produced about two years ago using skin cells of a seed bull.
The finding is expected to be useful for studies on the life span of cloned animals, since it could provide a comparison between genes of cattle over three generations - the seed bull, cloned cattle and recloned cattle. Takaharu Yoshiya, the head of the institute, said that the finding will lead to the development of cloning technology employing body cells, as well as to increase the supply of quality beef.
Unlike animals cloned from reproductive cells using divided fertilized egg, animals cloned from bodycells are an exact "copy" of a progenitor and thus inherit the progenitor's qualities, according toexperts. In July 1998, the world's first cloned calf, using body cells, was born in Ishikawa Prefecture. Since then, more than 100 cloned cattle have been born in Japan, although nearly 50 of those have died.
Vocabulary
unfertilized: < fertilize 受精させる nuclei:<nucleus 細胞核 uteri: <uterus = womb 子宮
progenitor: 生みの親、原型
Quiz
１。鹿児島の大隅で起きる世界で最初の出来事とは？
２。この実験にはどういう意味があると研究所の人は言っているか？
３。これについてのあなたの意見は？（出来れば英語で考えてみよう）What is your opinion on the article above?