LONDON, July 24: The scientists sho gave the world Dolly the sheep, the first clone of an adult animal, have now produced Polly, who has the added ingredient of a human gene, The Financial Times reported today.

The Roslin Institute and PPL Therapeutics, its financial backers, both in Edinburgh, are hoping Polly is the animal to make cloning commercially viable.

The added gene will produce a human protein in Polly's milk which can then be extracted and given to patients who lack it, such as haemophiliacs and bone disease sufferers.

Although transgenic sheep have existed for years, Polly is the first transgenic clone and represents a crucial step in the commercialisation of the technique, the newspaper said.

Cloning allows for every sheep produced to be female, and so milk producing and also for a flock to be produced in a single generation.

Proteins derived from ``pollies'' could be in clinical trials by 1999.``This is a realisation of our vision to produce instant flocks or herds which express high concentrations of valuable therapeutic proteins very quickly,'' Alan Colman, PPL's research director was quoted as saying.

The Financial Times said the human gene was added to the nucleus of a sheep cell taken from an adult sheep, which is then fused with a sheep embryo cell from which the nucleus has been removed. The resulting embryo is then transplanted into an ewe.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.