AP
Monday, December 18, 2006

An ex-collaborator of disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk claimed Monday that he succeeded in cloning a female dog after last year's breakthrough of creating the world's first cloned dog, which was male.

An Afghan hound, named Bona, was born on June 18 using cloning technology, said Lee Byeong-chun, a veterinary professor of Seoul National University. Two more of the same breed were born later, he said. DNA tests showed that the three female dogs are clones, he said.

Lee was a key member of Hwang's research team, most of whose purported breakthroughs in cloning human stem cells were found to be fake. But the team's success in cloning the world's first dog, Snuppy, was confirmed. Lee was the main scientist that led the dog cloning.

Cloning a dog had been seen as significant because of the difficulties in working with canine eggs.

"We knew that this was possible because we cloned a male dog, but it was necessary to prove that," Lee told The Associated Press. "This was a process that must be done to see if a cloned dog has reproduction capabilities."

Lee said he made strides in improving the efficiency of dog cloning. Last year, cloned eggs were put into 123 dogs to give birth to Snuppy and another. The second one died shortly later. But this time, the three female dogs were born from 12 dogs, he said.

Lee said his paper on cloning the female dogs appeared on the Web site of academic journal Theriogenology last week.

Lee had been suspended from his university for three months over the stem cell scandal.

He has been on trial, along with Hwang and other former team members, on charges of misappropriating research funds. If he gets a prison term, he could lose his job as professor of the top South Korean university.