Pork industry may get a boost from new research
Five piglets born in Queensland at the weekend could have ramifications for international research into cloning.
Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) say the litter is the first to be born in Australia as a result of a new technique that sees pig embryos frozen.
Ranald Cameron from UQ's Veterinary Science Farm says the development will greatly assist research involving genetic engineering and cloning.
"It will allow laboratories to build up large numbers of embryos and develop embryo banks so when they're doing things like cloning and genetic engineering they'll have access to a large supply of embryos that they can store away for long periods of time," he said.
The breakthrough could help boost Australia's ailing pork industry.
Mr Cameron says the development should help Australia develop a fresh gene pool by allowing the safe transfer of embryos anywhere around the world.
He says it will help the industry to produce bigger and better litters.
"With the ability to freeze embryos, given AQIS - our quarantine people - give us permission to use the frozen embryos, we can get these breeds into the country that we haven't been able to get in before," he said.
