Milk-Derived Epithelial Cells Area a Potential Source of Donor Genome for the Production of Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) Cloned Embryos

In most somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) experiments, traditional skinderived fibroblast cells are commonly used as the donor genome. In addition, alternative sources of donor genome include those derived from hair follicles, colostrum/milk, blood and semen. Milk is easily obtained from live animals with out any biopsies and can be a safe mode of somatic cell source for those animals with high risk of bacterial infection. Therefore, milk-derived somatic cells may be an important source donor genome for the production of cloned embryos and for endangered species conservation programmes as part of genome resource banking. Recently, Golla et al.