Noori on Rajpath

26th January, 2013, New Delhi

Noori - World's first cloned pashmina goat Successful development of world's first cloned pashmina goat in India got a unique recognition today. The technology was exhibited in the Jammu and Kashmir tableau at the republic day parade of India this year. The tableau on the theme 'Pashmina: Linking Tradition with Technology' displayed the technology which gave birth to cloned pashmina goat, Noori, last year at the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama, Srinagar. The funding for Noori’s cloning was provided by the World Bank, which runs the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, which has credit to develop world’s first cloned buffalo, Garima, is the consortium leader in the project.

Jammu and Kashmir tableau at the 64th republic day parade of India Noori was born on 9 March 2012 to three mothers (one provided the egg, another the DNA and a third carried the cloned embryo to term). She was created using the technique of somatic cell nuclear transfer, in which the cell nucleus from an adult cell is transferred into an unfertilised oocyte (developing egg cell) that has had its nucleus removed. The hybrid cell is then stimulated to divide by an electric shock, and when it develops into a blastocyst, it is implanted in a surrogate mother using laparoscopic surgery. This is the same method as was used in cloning the first mammal of the world, Dolly.