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Paris Texas, a 6-week-old cloned horse born at Texas A&M University, stands by Greta, the recipient mare. Paris Texas is the first cloned horse in North America, making A&M the first institution in the world to have cloned six different species.

A&M clones horse

University becomes first school to clone six species in world

By: Rhiannon Meyers

Posted: 4/28/05

Researchers at Texas A&M said Wednesday they have successfully cloned a horse - the first to be cloned in North America.

The 6-week-old bay-colored foal, named Paris Texas, was cloned from adult skin cells that were biopsied from an undisclosed donor stallion. The foal's name is derived from the partnership between A&M and a French company, Cryozootech.

"He's a really good looking colt too," said Dr. Katrin Hinrichs, a veterinarian and professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Two horses have already been cloned in Italy.

Although the foal was underweight at birth, Hinrichs, the head of the A&M Equine Embryo Laboratory, said Paris is healthy.

"Everything has come up normal," Hinrichs said. "We'll continue to follow him, but at this point, we have no suspicions that anything will come up wrong with him."

The cloning of the foal, which was born March 13 at A&M, makes the University the first academic institution worldwide that has cloned six different species including cattle, pigs, goats, a cat and a deer.

Hinrichs compared the foal to an identical twin of the donor horse. She said that although the foal is genetically the same as the donor, it is not guaranteed that he would be able to compete the same. However, Hinrichs said the offspring of the cloned horse will be the same as the offspring of the original stallion.

Hinrichs said this ability to clone horses will allow breeders to pass on valuable genes in purebred horses. Cloning could also help solve the long debate of nature versus nurture by using a genetic control to determine which characteristics are passed along through genetics.

"This is a very, very powerful research tool to look at different effects of environment versus heredity," Hinrichs said.

She also said that cloning large animals could help in saving endangered species.

"(Cloning) would be able to bring the frontiers of science closer using the model of the horse," she said.

Hinrichs added that she does not expect A&M to get any backlash from environmental groups about the clone.

"People are starting to understand that it's not going to be like Star Wars where 10,000 clones are running around," she said. "I can't see what environmentalists will have a problem with. People have been accepting of this around here."

Michael Bell, freshman biomedical sciences major on a pre-veterinary medicine track, said he is excited that A&M has cloned a horse and that cloning will be beneficial in saving endangered species.

"It makes me feel proud that I go to a school that deals so much with research and the advancement of science," Bell said. "I think (cloning a horse) will really make an even bigger name for ourselves in the world as far as science and technology is concerned."

Nicky Ferwerda, A&M Horse Center manager, said cloning will definitely help the breeding programs, but she does not anticipate the center will use cloning in the immediate future to replace its breeding program. However, she said cloning definitely raises moral questions.

"It opens a lot of doors and creates a lot of questions about what is right and wrong in science versus nature," Ferwerda said. "I don't know if that's morally right or not. It's definitely going to create some opportunity. It's also going to cause some waves."

Hinrichs said she was excited she was able to witness and assist with Paris' birth from his recipient mare, Greta.

"I was the first guy he met when he came out," she said.