Mule Clone: Stubborness Pays Off

They said it couldn't be done. But one scientist was stubborn as a mule -- and then he cloned one.

Gordon Woods, a researcher at the University of Idaho in Moscow led a team that has cloned the first equine, a mule they've named Idaho Gem. He was born on May 4. Researchers expect another two more clones will be born this summer.

Mules, a cross between donkeys and horses, are almost always incapable of reproducing on their own because they are sterile.

Most cloning researchers thought it was impossible to clone any equine because of certain peculiarities in their genetic makeup. But Woods was determined to make it work.

"Anybody who wanted to come into my lab to clone a horse, (let alone an animal that can't reproduce), had to be short a few marbles," said Kenneth White, a researcher at the University of Iowa who participated in the study. "But I'm obviously not very persuasive because I tried everything I could to discourage this idea, and he obviously didn't listen very well."

Idaho Gem is Woods' baby, so to speak, and he spoke like a proud father at a press conference on Thursday.

"Idahoans are solid, they're fiercely independent and they're persistent," Woods said as the mule was revealed to reporters on the Idaho campus. "In honor of that may I present to you, Idaho Gem."

The successful pregnancies came after 307 tries, so the Idaho method is still inefficient. But researchers consider the healthy birth of a cloned equine a major feat.

The researchers created Idaho Gem using a cell from a mule fetus that was created and frozen in 1998. They implanted the fetal cell into an egg taken from a mare, after removing the nucleus of the egg.

Normally, the presence of sperm triggers cell division when an egg is fertilized. Since cloning doesn’t involve any sperm, the researchers used a calcium mixture to trick the cells into dividing. They then implanted the cell into a surrogate mare.

Their ultimate goal is to clone a horse. Researchers believe their technique will work equally well in horses.

Idahoan businessman and president of the American Mule Racing Association, Donald Jacklin, funded the project with a $400,000 donation. He wanted the researchers to create a clone that would be directly related to his champion mule, Taz.

Since mules are almost always sterile, mule-racing enthusiasts can't breed the animals along family lines. So cloning is of particular interest to them.

The University of Idaho owns the cloned mule, but Jacklin said he hopes they'll allow him to race Idaho Gem, or one of the other clones, when they turn three.

"He sure sounds and looks like he's going to be a Taz gene-type," Jacklin said. "He's the property of the University of Idaho, but I definitely have a strong interest in securing his availability through a lease or whatever method to take on one of the babies for racing."