Sinogene’s team first created 137 Arctic wolf embryos by fusing skin cells from the primordial Maya with canine eggs through the process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).
A total of 85 of these embryos were then transferred to seven beagle surrogates, chosen because there were not enough female wolves in captivity for the experiments.
Fortunately, dogs and wolves share enough common DNA for the pregnancy to succeed.
Only one of those transplanted embryos fully developed during pregnancy, resulting in the new Maya.
The wolf now lives with her surrogate mother in a Sinogene lab in Xuzhou, eastern China. She will soon be transferred to Harbin Polarland to join other Arctic wolves.
Sinogene announced a new partnership with Beijing Wildlife Park to potentially clone other species in the near future.
Beijing Wildlife Park’s deputy manager, Gao Wei, told the Global Times that the company could provide another option for the conservation of rare and endangered species when artificial reproduction is not possible.