Apr 27, 2007, 12:10 GMT
Seoul - An investigative panel from Seoul National University confirmed Friday that a team of its researchers had produced the world's first cloned wolves.
The investigators, however, found that the scientists had made numerical mistakes in tables supporting their research that produced the wolf clones Snuwolf and Snuwolffy and accused them of sloppy recordkeeping.
Suspicions about data manipulation, which launched the inquiry after the study was published a month ago, could not be proven, the panel said.
Two DNA tests showed the two female wolves are clones, said Kuk Young, a member of the six-member committee, adding that the mistakes in the tables were unintentional.
The panel also revealed that after the October 2005 births of Snuwolf and Snuwolffy, the team led by veterinarian Lee Byeong Chun had produced six other Korean grey wolves, all male. Three have since died.
Lee was a member of the team led by disgraced scientist Hwang Woo Suk that produced the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in August 2005.
Hwang was later disgraced after the falsification of data on what had been hailed as breakthrough studies on embryonic stem cells was discovered, but Snuppy was also confirmed to be a clone.
After the presentation of the first two cloned wolves to the world, other scientists began to question Lee's study, speculating that his team had inflated the success rate of its experiment.
Lee admitted 'a simple calculation mistake' and asked the Cloning and Stem Cells journal, which had published the research in March, to correct the mistakes, which Lee called inadvertent.
Snuwolf and Snuwolffy were cloned from the cell of an adult wolf. Lee's team said it hoped to use its research to help save endangered species.
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