The National Institute of Animal Science has developed a method to increase the success rate for cloning canines.
 
The institute, which operates under the Rural Development Administration, said on Tuesday that it succeeded in culturing somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos to the stage of blastocysts.
 
A blastocyst refers to a thin-walled hollow structure in the early development of mammals that is made up of a mass of cells called inner cell mass (ICM) which subsequently forms the embryo.
 
 
The institute said the success rate of culturing blastocysts is only seven-point-eight percent. However, it said the discovery is expected to raise the success rate for cloning canines because the culturing process allows for the entire examination of the early formation of a SCNT embryo.
 
The results of the study were published in the online edition of Journal of Veterinary Science.