Topics discussed include recent progress in pig SCNT and production of transgenic and knock out pigs for biomedical research and xenotransplantation, cattle cloning, behavioral studies in cloned mice, nuclear remodeling and imprinting, cell cycle regulation, nucleolar biogenesis, the effect of artificial activation on early development of cloned embryos, and inheritance of mitochondrial DNA and centrosome. Altogether, the present tome provides the reader with a unique developmental, molecular and cell biological view of the exciting SCNT technology, while also discussing its pitfalls and possible future directions and detours.