If you have been reading this blog regularly you will know that extinction may not be forever anymore if any one of several projects goes through. One of the most promising is the effort to restore the woolly mammoth. A de-extinction breakthrough may be making the return of the colossal animals a little bit nearer.
De-extinction is not the exact recreation of the original animal. What needs to happen is that sufficient DNA from the extinct creature needs to be obtained. The DNA then needs to be inserted as an embryo in a close living relative. If all goes well the newborn will be very close to the extinct creature but not quite identical.
Of the animals under consideration for de-extinction, and there are a few, woolly Mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) are among the best candidates. Many have been found frozen in Arctic regions. They are also closely related to Asian elephants. Creating an embryo and finding a surrogate mother should be relatively easy. Now Colossal Science has announced a break through in stem cells that may make the arrival date closer.
thy
According to Gizmodo:
“The cells are induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), a type of cell that can be reprogrammed to develop into any other type of cell. The cells are especially useful in bioengineering, for their applications in cell development, therapy, and transferring genetic information across species. Colossal’s new iPSCs are the first engineered elephant cells converted into an embryonic state, a useful development if you’re in pursuit of a woolly mammoth. Or rather, an animal that looks like a woolly mammoth.
“In the past, a multitude of attempts to generate elephant iPSCs have not been fruitful. Elephants are a very special species and we have only just begun to scratch the surface of their fundamental biology,” said Eriona Hysolli, who heads up Colossal’s biological sciences team, in a statement. “The Colossal mammoth team persisted quite successfully as this progress is invaluable for the future of elephant assisted reproductive technologies as well as advanced cellular modeling of mammoth phenotypes” Links in original.
As mentioned, Colossal and other researchers are interested in de-extincting a number of animals, including Dodo birds and passenger pigeons Their work has attracted the attention of the CIA. The agency apparently wants to keep an eye on the emerging technology.
One of the more challenging candidates for a de-extinction breakthrough is the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine. Extinct since 1936 the predator was striped somewhat like a tiger and was an apex predator in Australia. Even though recently extinct, it was thought there was little usable DNA, Recent finds of skeleton and skins may change that. However, the thylacine was the size of a dog. Its nearest living relative is mouselike. That creates serious surrogate birth issues.
Attempts to resurrect species are not without critics. Conservationists alarmed at the risk of extinction faced by many animals are unhappy. They feel the money, time and scientific acumen is better spent on saving animals that exist today.