The Nature of Scotland – Autumn 2011 – Issue 13

NEWS
Dolly scientist working
on cloning wildcats
A scientist who was involved in cloning
‘Dolly the sheep’ 15 years ago has
started work on a new technique to
clone rare Scottish wildcats.
Embryologist Dr Bill Ritchie believes
the project could help protect the
species, which is now thought to
number only about 400 cats in the wild.
Dolly the sheep was the first cloned
mammal ever to be made from an adult
cell and was the result of work at the
Roslin Institute near Edinburgh. The
wildcat research has received some
funding from Genecom, the commercial
arm of the Moredun Research Institute
and the Institute for Animal Health.
“Several cat species have been
cloned using the domestic cat, as well
as the wolf using dog eggs,” explained
Dr Ritchie. “It’s very difficult to find pure
wildcats due to their crossing with
domestic animals, but modern scientific
techniques are able to select animals
that are pure bred.
“Cells can be collected from these
animals by taking a small piece of skin,”
he added, “and can then be cultured to
supply cells for the cloning process.”
Dr Ritchie said eggs from domestic
cats – which would be available from
tissue recovered during spaying of the
animal – could be used as the starting
material for the cloning process.
In August last year, bosses at the
Highland Wildlife Park confirmed that a
plan to clone wildcats was in the early
stages of being discussed. Talks had
been held with the Medical Research
Council’s Human Reproductive
Sciences Unit in Edinburgh. The park
said a house cat/wildcat hybrid could
be used to give birth to ‘pure wildcat
kittens’.
It’s been estimated that some 150
breeding pairs of wildcats survive in
parts of the Highlands. Disease, loss of
habitat and interbreeding with domestic
cats have been blamed for devastating
wild populations.
18 The Nature of Scotland