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Chinese farmers have struggled to breed enough beef cattle to meet market demand. Photo: AP

China to build world’s biggest animal cloning factory in Tianjin

Commercial operation to produce dogs, cattle, racehorses and ‘non-human primates’

Tuesday, 24 November, 2015,

Tianjin is building the world's largest animal cloning factory, aiming to produce one million cattle embryos annually, state media reported yesterday.

According to a Xinhua, mainland scientists have signed a deal to establish a 200 million yuan (HK$242 million) commercial animal cloning centre in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area, a government-sponsored business development park.

Its main building was already under construction and due to be completed by June next year, the report said. Among the animals it will clone are sniffer and pet dogs, high-grade beef cattle, racehorses and "non-human primates". These animals will be used for commercial services and improving breeds.

The project could rapidly improve the quality of livestock and bring the controversial science one step closer to mainstream acceptance, Xinhua reported.

Sinica, a subsidiary of Wuxi -based Boyalife Group which focuses on stem cell and regenerative medicine research, signed the agreement with TEDA on Friday.

China's only clone goat Yang Yang (left) in Yangling Agriculture Development Zone near Xian. Yang Yang, born in June 2000, was cloned at Yangling Keyuan Bio-Engineering. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The centre will be jointly built by Sinica, Peking University's Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biomedicine and South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

Boyalife chairman Xu Xiaochun said the centre would produce 100,000 cattle embryos a year before expanding annual output to one million.

Xu said mainland farmers had struggled to breed enough beef cattle to meet market demand and the centre would be the largest of its kind in the world.

The factory also plans to set up a cloning lab, a gene bank and a science education centre.

Researchers hold three cloned pigs born on October 12, 2006 in Harbin, Heilongjiang.

Since 2000, mainland scientists have cloned sheep, cattle and pigs. China's first commercial cloning company was established in September 2014 in Shandong province with the birth of three pure-blooded Tibetan mastiff puppies. The firm is a joint venture between Boyalife and Sooam Biotech.

Read more: Brazilian scientists clone endangered animals

Prior to this, cloning in China had been limited to scientific research. More and more companies have shown interest in investing in the technology for commercial use, especially animal husbandry.

Sinica has cloned more than 550 sniffer dogs working for airports, customs and police.

In April, scientists from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou successfully edited human DNA in an embryo for the first time by "cleaving" a gene responsible for beta thalassemia, a common and sometimes deadly blood disorder among children in southern China.

Scientists in Shanghai have also been rewriting the rules of reproduction with a groundbreaking experiment that combined genetic material from two female mice to create healthy offspring.