On Jan. 10, 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and University of Vermont researchers produced a clone of a pure-bred Jersey cow whose cells offer a potential biotechnology defense against mastitis disease.

Mastitis costs U.S. dairy farmers about $1.7 billion annually, including lost milk revenues. About 30 percent of all mastitis cases in dairy cows are caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that destroy milk-secreting cells in the animal’s mammary gland. But scientists hope that Annie will resist such cellular attacks by secreting an added protein called lysostaphin.