中国科学家成功克隆四千年前的本土猪种

Two cloned piglets born in Hunan province are expected to promote China's pork industry and diabetes treatment research while preserving a 4,000-year-old local breed once pushed to the brink of extinction by foreign competitors.

两只克隆猪“宝宝”近日在湖南诞生，既保护了一个拥有4000年历史的本土猪种，也有望推动中国猪肉产业发展及糖尿病治疗研究。该猪种曾因外来猪种竞争而濒临灭绝。

According to the Xiangtan municipal livestock breeding station, the cloned Shaziling piglets, delivered via a surrogate mother on Jan 24 in Xiangtan county, mark a milestone in China's decadelong push to preserve indigenous livestock breeds using biotechnology.

据湘潭市家畜育种站介绍，这两只沙子岭克隆猪“宝宝”于1月24日在湘潭县通过受体母猪诞生，标志着中国长达十年利用生物技术保护本土家畜品种的努力取得了里程碑式进展。

Once a staple in Hunan's famed hongshao rou, or braised pork, Shaziling pigs, a breed native to Xiangtan, nearly vanished as industrial foreign breeds dominated Chinese farms in previous years.

沙子岭猪原产于湘潭，曾是湖南名菜“红烧肉”的主要食材。然而，近年来随着外来工业化猪种在中国养殖场占据主导地位，沙子岭猪几乎销声匿迹。

It is considered a precious genetic resource and was added to China's national animal genetic resource protection list in 2006.

沙子岭猪种是珍贵的遗传资源，曾于2006年被列入中国国家畜禽遗传资源品种名录。

To protect the genetic resources of the Shaziling pig, the breeding station initiated the somatic cell cloning experiment with support from a research team led by Yin Yulong, a Chinese Academy of Engineering academician and chief researcher at the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, starting in June last year.

为保护沙子岭猪的遗传资源，湘潭市家畜育种站在去年6月，依托中国工程院院士、中国科学院亚热带农业生态研究所首席研究员印遇龙及其科研团队，开展了沙子岭猪体细胞克隆试验。

Researchers used frozen ear tissue cells from Shaziling pigs to create fibroblast cells, leading to successful embryo construction, cultivation and transplantation. On Jan 24, the surrogate mother pig successfully gave birth.

研究人员利用冷冻保存的沙子岭猪耳组织成纤维细胞，通过克隆胚胎构建、培养、移植，“长大杂”受体母猪于1月24日下午顺利分娩。

Tan Hong, head of the breeding station, said that the two piglets display characteristic features of the Shaziling pig, such as a short snout, butterfly ears and cow-like eyes. They are healthy and being cared for by skilled technicians.

湘潭市家畜育种站站长谭红介绍，首胎产下的两只活体克隆“宝宝”，保存了沙子岭猪“短嘴筒、蝴蝶耳、牛眼睛”的典型特征，各项身体指标正常，目前正接受饲养技术员的精心照料。

Yin noted that the research achievement goes far beyond agriculture. He emphasized the anatomical, physiological, immunological and genomic similarities between pigs and humans. These similarities make pigs ideal models for researching diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular ailments. Their similar organ size and structure enhance their prospects in xenotransplantation research.

印遇龙指出，这项研究成果的意义远不止于农业领域。他强调，猪与人类在解剖结构、生理学、免疫学和基因组学等方面具有相似性，因此成为许多疾病模型的理想选择，比如被广泛用于糖尿病、心血管疾病等研究的动物模型。猪的器官大小、结构与人类相似，这使得它们在异种移植研究中有着重要应用前景。

Wu Maisheng, a researcher at the Xiangtan Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, revealed that porcine-human xenotransplantation studies conducted in Hunan since 2005 have found that the Shaziling pig possesses the highest biosafety and is the best donor for such transplants. The success rate for using Shaziling pig islet cells in diabetes treatments reached 95.45 percent.

湘潭市农业农村局研究员吴买生透露，自2005年起，湖南开展猪人异种移植研究发现，沙子岭猪的生物安全性最高，确认沙子岭猪是猪人异种移植最佳供体；用沙子岭猪胰岛细胞移植治疗糖尿病，成功率达到95.45%。

Wu said the birth of the cloned Shaziling pig facilitates long-term preservation and live recovery of genetic resources, providing a valuable experimental model for innovative conservation methods for high-quality local pig breeds.

吴买生表示，沙子岭克隆猪的诞生，实现了遗传资源的长期保存和活体恢复，为优质地方猪种创新资源保护方式提供了良好的试验示范和引领。

Future research will focus on the cloned pigs' adaptability to environmental conditions, growth and reproductive performance, as well as in-depth studies of the progeny's weight gain, meat quality and genetic traits.

未来研究团队将聚焦克隆猪对环境的适应性、生长发育、繁殖性能等特性，围绕克隆猪后代的肥育性能、肉质特性、基因特性等开展深入研究。

Yin also said that the Shaziling pig presents extensive application prospects as a food source, disease model and donor for xenotransplantation. It is increasingly significant in modern agriculture, medical research and clinical treatments.

印遇龙还表示，沙子岭猪作为食用动物、疾病模型和异种移植供体猪，具有广阔的应用前景，将在现代农业、医学研究和临床治疗等领域发挥日益重要的作用。

The research team aims to use cloning technology to replicate superior Shaziling pigs with high feed conversion rates, meat yield and quality.

团队将利用克隆技术，对选育出的饲料转化率高、产肉量高、肉质好的沙子岭猪个体进行克隆。