Scientific Breakthrough: Extinct Animal DNA Revived in a Live Animal
For the first time DNA from the extinct Tasmanian tiger was brought to life in another living organism by Australian scientists.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne, Australia, in collaboration with the University of Texas, USA, have extracted thylacine gene from the extinct Tasmanian tiger and inserted it into a mouse and it functioned.
Though reviving the genes doesn't mean that the extinct animal will be reborn, it holds a potential for further research, revealing the biology of extinct animals and developing new biomedicines.
This breakthrough means that scientists can one day get the knowledge of much older specimens.
The Tasmanian tiger or thylacine was the world’s largest marsupial carnivore that was hunted to extinction in the wild in 1900s. The last Tasmanian tiger died in 1936 in Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.
Several young Tasmanian tigers were preserved in alcohol in museum collections, including Museum Victoria in Melbourne, where DNA from 100-year-old thylacine was isolated and inserted into mouse embryos to examine how it worked in a living organism. The mice produced collagen using thylacine gene, functioning in the developing mouse cartilage, which will later form the bone. The discovery became a result of nine year work for Australian and US scientists.
Earlier, scientists tried to extract DNA from extinct species, beginning with bacteria to mammoth and Neanderthals, but until now they didn't succeed in studying the role of genome in the development.
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//5 May 31, 2009 08:15 PM | posted by:
Emilie - this is very exciting. and i am actually researching DNA extraction in extinct animals for my AP Biology class and have a few questions.
what have learned about your samples so far?
i have read that there are many ways of doing this how do you go about it?
how fast does a centrifuge need to spin to seperate the particles?
what do you think are some disadvantages of this discovery?
Please, please e-mail me back it will greatly help me and would be greatly appreicated. thanks :)
cmpeckinpaugh@centurytel.net - 0 votes
//4 Feb 04, 2009 12:25 PM | posted by: Ashley G. - I believe that the ability to reserect past extinct animals is very insightful. with every advancement in modern technology we achieve further capabilities that will i believe help modern day humans unlock the mysteries of the everexpanding subject of science.
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//3 Oct 30, 2008 03:17 PM | posted by: jim - im doing a scientific assignment on this i love it so much please email me with all the info you have
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//2 Aug 20, 2008 07:37 PM | posted by: Unknown - omg this is the colest thing ever. now if this is sucksessful we could now worry about extinction as much. it would still be a problem but not so much.and now generations to come will have the jos of getting to see all sorts of animals that used to be extinct. GO SCIENCE!!!!!!
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//1 Jun 22, 2008 03:59 AM | posted by: jack - is it realy possible???
wat is the basis of it??
please reply me at jack_padillon@yahoo.com
tnx..
