The goals of cloning listed by the FDA include "disease resistance ... suitability to climate ... quality body type .. fertility ... and market preference (leanness, tenderness, color, size of various cuts, etc.
[11] The only extinct animal to be cloned as of 2022 is a Pyrenean ibex, born on July 30, 2003, in Spain, which died minutes later due to physical defects in the lungs.
[12][13] Some animals have been cloned to add genetic diversity to endangered species with small remaining populations, thereby avoiding inbreeding depression.
The team of Sinogene plans to restore lost species or boost numbers in endangered animal populations.
[17] In a recent study using sturgeons, scientists have made improvements to a technique known as somatic nuclear cell transfer, with the ultimate goal being to save endangered species.
Sturgeons are endangered due to the high levels of poaching, increased destruction to habitats, water pollution, and overfishing.
It has recently been found that the position by which that somatic cell is located inside the recipient is very important in order to successfully clone a species.
[18] Cloning long-extinct animals using current methods is impossible because DNA begins to denature after death, meaning the entire genome of an extinct species is not available to be reproduced.
Currently, George Church's lab at Harvard University's Wyss Institute is conducting research into genetically modifying Asian elephants to express genes from the extinct woolly mammoth.
[19] Their goals in doing this are to expand the habitat available to Asian elephants and reestablish the ecological interactions woolly mammoths played a role in prior to their extinction.
[24] On May 21, 2008, BioArts International[25] announced a limited commercial dog cloning service (through a program it called Best Friends Again) in partnership with a Korean company named Sooam Biotech.
This program came after the announcement of the successful cloning of a family dog named Missy, an achievement widely publicized in the Missyplicity Project.
[33] In 2015, the longest period after which Sooam Biotech could clone a puppy was 12 days from the death of the original pet dog.
[38] Many of these discrepancies are thought to come from maternal mRNA already present in the oocyte prior to the transfer of genetic material as well as from DNA methylation, both of which contribute to the development of the animal in the womb of the surrogate.