Do Cloned Dogs Look The Same?

Do Cloned Dogs Look The Same?

Well you will have a hard job knowing who’s who with these two!

When we clone a pet, the first step is to preserve the genetic information of the original pet by processing a skin sample obtained from them. The cells from the skin sample are preserved in liquid nitrogen to keep them frozen until the animal is cloned. The cloning process then uses one of the frozen skin cells from the original pet and inserts it into an enucleated egg cell (oocyte) to create the clone. The enucleation of the oocyte means that the nucleus that contains all of the DNA has been removed from the cell.

Therefore, the enucleated oocyte no longer contains any genetic information and is virtually a blank slate. Unlike gametic cells like eggs and sperm cells that only contain half of the genetic information, a skin cell holds a full genetic profile. When the skin cell is added to the enucleated oocyte, it can become a fully functioning embryo with a full set of chromosomes, it is just all coming from the same animal instead of half from the maternal egg cell and half from the paternal sperm cell!

This means that genetically, the dogs are completely identical as their DNA is exactly the same. However, some external factors can influence some aspects of the clone.

Epigenetic factors are factors that affect how genes are expressed without actually changing the DNA sequence of those genes. Some of these epigenetic factors as well as some environmental factors are responsible for some small differences between clones and their originals.

Some colour markings can be different between a clone and their original, especially for animals who aren’t a solid colour. Spot patterns or specific colour markings can vary between cloned pets and their originals, often due to the random migration of the cells containing the pigment during in utero development.

The cloned pet will generally have a similar temperament to their original but some aspects of behaviour are influenced by external factors. The environment in which the clone grows up may be very different to the environment in which the original pet grew up – for example if the original pet was a rescue or a stray, the clone may not exhibit all of the same behaviours that can be expected from that type of upbringing.

A cloned pet will be the closest possible replica to the original pet, essentially an identical twin born at a later date, sharing all of the exact same genetic information. But just as there can be small disparities between twins, the clone and the original will be separate individuals that may have some small physical and behavioural differences!

Pet cloning by our US partner ViaGen Pets!
Genetic preservation & cell culture available here in the UK with Gemini Genetics, for cloning via our US partner.

Happy 4th to these two beautiful boys!
Gemini Genetics www.geminigenetics.com