Three little cloned pigs hold promise for nation's pork producers

ATHENS - Scientists at the University of Georgia, working with an agriculture biotechnology company, have produced three little pigs cloned from the skin tissue cells of a boar. <br> <br> The partnership between Georgia and ProLinia Incorporated, which already has produced the first cloned calf, hopes to help pork producers select and clone the choicest pigs from their stock. <br> <br> The piglets, all from the same cell line, were born over the Memorial Day weekend. <br> <br> ProLinia President Mike Wanner said, ``This is another step in our program to advance the technology of cloning. There are still inefficiencies in the cloning process, but we&#39;re making improvements.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Among the challenges in the process cited by Wanner is a significant number of losses during gestation, compared to non-cloned embryo transfer. <br> <br> Artificial insemination has been primarily used to date in the pork industry, but Georgia and ProLinia say they hope to eventually be able to clone pigs from carcasses selected for their quality, as was the case with K.C. <br> <br> The host boar from which the piglet cells were removed came from the commercial breeding operation of Smithfield Foods, Incorporated, the largest hog producer in the world. <br> <br> The technology used to clone the pigs will be patented by the University of Georgia, but licensed exclusively to ProLinia.