collecting / preserving DNA

[alfredpotter]

Hi, I'm new to this website. My name's Alfred and I'm 17.
Three days ago my 7 year old cat was fatally hit by a car. I've wanted to be a geneticist for a long time now and I am setting my university goals accordingly. Although his death came as a sudden shock, I have been collecting his fur in a container (from combing) for a while now. In the future I would like to clone him, similar to the process that scientists used to create the clone sheep, "Dolly".

My questions are, 'Does fur/hair contain DNA (cloning related)? Or is it just a useless protein strand?'

and

'just in case, I extracted some furs with the follicles intact. How do I preserve this for decades to come? - so that the DNA doesn't degrade to the point where the cat will be unclonable?'

I understand that Cloning isn't as perfect as we'd like to think it is, but I'm talking about in the future some time.
Thank you very much for the replies, you have no idea how much it means to me

[ping]

Only hair without the root is useless.But said you've got some follicles. I'm sorry for your cat.
Think about the archaelogical remains like teeth and bones which still have DNA.Just keep it somewhere safe.

[alfredpotter]

hey thanks a lot. Am I supposed to freeze the samples?

[wbla3335]

Hi Alfred,

Keep them dry, freeze them. Start saving up for the procedure. I'm sorry about your cat - I'm a cat person too. But there are more cats in this world than there are homes for cats. Don't clone your cat. You won't get it back. You'll get a different cat that is (nuclearly) genetically identical to the original. Identical twins aren't the same person. Again, sorry, but you need to move on.

[david23]

Use your very very cold freezer where everywhere has turned to ice.

[mith]

Need large sample, and keep it very cold preferrably don't thaw and refreeze.

[alfredpotter]

I know, I understand that he won't be the same cat. But I'd very much like to become a geneticist anyway and would like to clone him.

in regards to freezing the sample; I have a freezer - But not a laboratory one. Just a kitchen one. I have heard that DNA is nearly indestructible, is the kitchen freezer cold enough & is freezing the sample absoloutely neccessary?

Also, would I need JUST his DNA? or would I need his gametes or something else too? He was rendered reproductively useless soon after birth by the vets (as many are) and besides that, he has already been cremated.

Thank you all very much for the replies

(P.S. In the future I was thinking along the lines of reproductively cloning him, like was done in 1997, obviously when the process is more reliable though.)

[david23]

forget about gametes, not important. You are lucky that you have his follicles, which are the cells, which means the DNA is in better shape than it would be by itself inside a tube. As long as everything is frozen on ICE, it shouldnt be too bad.