It was noted that this approach increased the success of the operation. The researchers hope that the results of their study will make agriculture in China less dependent on imported livestock.

Experiment details

Today, China is the world’s largest consumer of pork, but Beijing is trying to be more independent of imports, especially amid multiple sanctions from the United States and other countries. Additionally, Chinese pig breeds are degenerating rapidly. Cloning can be an effective solution to the problem.

• The study was carried out by scientists from Nankai University. The report states that the animal, which was fertilized on March 31, 2022, gave birth to seven healthy Landrace piglets.
• Every stage of the process was automated, no one was involved in any operation. According to scientists, the participation of robots increases the success of cloning, because their actions are more accurate and less likely to damage cells.
• The most common cloning method is called “somatic cell nucleus transplant”. It uses the egg and somatic cell of the cloned animal.
• Scientists remove the nucleus from the egg and replace it with the somatic cell nucleus.

In 2017, researchers bred the world’s first piglets cloned using robots, but then humans still took part in some stages. We have now succeeded in achieving full automation of the process. The robot, which has microscopic vision, calculates the deformation of the cells with the help of artificial intelligence in order not to damage the egg during the surgery and to apply minimum force. This increases the accuracy of cloning and the rate of embryonic development.

• Researchers suggest that the use of automatic cloning technology increased the success of the operation from 10 percent to 27.5 percent.
• The first animals obtained by cloning are suitable for breeding.
• In the future, any company or research institution will be able to purchase an automated system.