{"id":369,"date":"2021-11-27T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=102262"},"modified":"2021-11-27T07:12:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-27T06:12:11","slug":"resurrecting-the-mammoth-could-be-possible-but-we-shouldnt-bother","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/resurrecting-the-mammoth-could-be-possible-but-we-shouldnt-bother\/","title":{"rendered":"Resurrecting the mammoth could be possible \u2013 but we shouldn\u2019t bother"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Kent H Redford\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 27 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The return of the dead to life has long fascinated storytellers, featuring in myths like Orpheus and Eurydice<\/em>, festivals like the Mexican Dia del Muerte<\/em>, in Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein<\/em> and, of course, Jurassic Park<\/em>. The idea continues to cast its spell. As we describe in our book Strange Natures<\/em>, \u2018de-extinction\u2019, or the \u2018resurrection\u2019 of extinct species is the idea about the use of novel genetic technologies that most excites commentators about conservation.<\/p>\n

The best-established approach to de-extinction is by cloning. In 2003, Spanish scientists cloned the Pyrenean ibex, a subspecies of the Iberian ibex that went extinct in 2000. The animal lived a scant seven minutes, but it was hailed as the first species brought back from extinction<\/a>. De-extinction continues to yield startling headlines and graphics: attempts to bring back mammoths even made the cover of the April 2013 issue of National Geographic<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, perhaps, you can\u2019t clone a mammoth. At least, that is Beth Shapiro\u2019s conclusion in her fascinating book How to Clone a Mammoth<\/em><\/a> (notwithstanding its title). It turns out that the DNA in all mammoth samples will always be too degraded to make cloning possible. And the same goes for velociraptors or tyrannosaurs, condemning Jurassic Park<\/em> in all is guises to remain only a delightful exercise in science fiction.<\/p>\n

But there is another approach to de-extinction. It uses the techniques of gene editing to re-engineer parts of the genome of a closely-related extant species to match that of its extinct relative. Before starting you will need a complete genome sequence of the extinct species and of a relatively closely related living species. Working to create the novel life form requires use of the novel technologies of gene editing (especially CRISPR, for which Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The woolly mammoth is now the focus of a serious project<\/a>, led by the charismatic figure of George Church of Harvard University and the American NGO Revive & Restore. They have sequenced the DNA of mammoths semi-preserved in Arctic permafrost and that of its closest living relative, the Asian elephant.<\/p>\n

Gene editing is being used to rewrite genes in Asian elephant cell lines, generating increasingly mammoth-like cells (controlling haemoglobin, hair growth and fat production) with each edit. In theory these synthesised strands of \u2018mammoth\u2019 DNA could be inserted into the egg of an Asian elephant and implanted into a host female elephant. If a foetus were brought to term and born alive, it would carry woolly mammoth traits \u2013 not exactly a mammoth but more like a mammoth than anything since the last one went extinct some 4,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

Read more about de-extinction:<\/strong><\/p>\n