Brazil scientists expect cow but get bull clone

A healthy bull calf born on a ranch in south-east Brazil astonished scientists who were expecting a female cloned from an adult cow.Although...

A healthy bull calf born on a ranch in south-east Brazil astonished scientists who were expecting a female cloned from an adult cow.

Although not Brazil’s first cloned calf, it may be the first cloned from somatic, or adult, cells. And scientists have yet to explain how they got a bull from ear cells of a cow. The project’s chief veterinarian, Jose Visintin, said on Monday the experiment ‘‘either erred in the laboratory or in the field.’’

‘‘Of my two hypotheses, I hope we erred in the lab, which means we cloned a calf from somatic cells — a first for Brazil,’’ Visintin told a news conference at the University of Sao Paulo. ‘‘He may not be the clone we hoped for but he’d at least be a clone.’’

Visintin dismissed the possibility of the bull calf being from the cells his team took from the ear of an adult cow, which were supposed to be the genetic material used to create cloned embryos in the project.

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