Somatic cell nuclear transfer: failures, successes and the challenges ahead

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has a broad spectrum of potential applications, including rescue of endangered species, production of transgenic animals, drug production, and regenerative medicine. Unfortunately, the efficiency of SCNT is still disappointingly low. Many factors affecting cloning procedures have been described in several previous reviews; here we review the most effective improvements in SCNT, with a special emphasis on the effect of mitochondrial defects on SCNT embryo/foetus development, an issue never touched upon before.