Scientists claim they could mass produce genetically engineered 'super dogs' via cloning... after successfully creating this fluffy little puppy

Chinese team say they have cloned a puppy from a genetically modified dog

The technology is said to allow them to create 'super dogs' then make copies

Leader of the project has in the past bred beagles with twice the muscle mass

By Tracy You For Mailonline
Published: 12:13 EDT, 6 July 2017 | Updated: 13:38 EDT, 6 July 2017

Chinese scientists claim they have found the key to mass-breeding extra strong and fast 'super dogs' thanks to a pioneering technology.

A team of researchers in Beijing say they are now able to change a dog's nature by modifying its genes, and then reproduce it through cloning.

For example, they could customise a dog to make it have bigger muscles and better running ability before making copies of it, according to Lai Liangxue, the lead researcher.

The scientists from Sino Gene, a biological technology company based in Beijing, made the claim after having recently created a cloned beagle, named Long Long.

The company said Long Long is the first of its kind in the world, because it is cloned from a genetically modified parent.

The male puppy was born on May 28 at a lab of Sino Gene. Long Long's father, Apple, was born at the same lab on December 29, 2016.

According to Sino Gene, Apple was created to be a laboratory dog so that researchers could study the causes and cures of atherosclerosis, a medical condition when arteries become clogged with fatty substances.

Scientists used the gene knockout technique while making Apple. They took a somatic cell - which is any cell of a living organism other than the reproductive cells - from a healthy beagle and modified one of the genes so that Apple was born with high blood lipids.

Although South Korean scientists have been cloning dogs since 2005, by creating Long Long, Sino Gene said they have become the first company in the world to be able to duplicate a genetically engineered dog.

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