Which sheep breeds were involved in the cloning of Dolly?

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The cloning of Dolly involved two distinct sheep breeds:

  • Finn Dorset: An adult ewe of this breed provided the mammary gland cell that served as the donor for the nucleus used in the cloning process.12
  • Scottish Blackface: Ewes of this breed provided the unfertilized egg cells (from which the nuclei were removed) and served as the surrogate mothers for the reconstructed embryos.2

The process, known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, involved fusing the nucleus from the Finn Dorset mammary cell with the enucleated egg cell from a Scottish Blackface ewe. The resulting embryo was then implanted into a Scottish Blackface surrogate, ultimately resulting in the birth of Dolly, who was a genetic replica of the Finn Dorset donor.32