Team plans to clone Mammoth

Conor108

No idea if this should go here or in biology/pop sci.

FROM AFP
Japan, Russia see chance to clone mammoth

(AFP) – 2 days ago

TOKYO — Scientists from Japan and Russia believe it may be possible to clone a mammoth after finding well-preserved bone marrow in a thigh bone recovered from permafrost soil in Siberia, a report said Saturday.

Teams from the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum and Japan's Kinki University will launch fully-fledged joint research next year aiming to recreate the giant mammal, Japan's Kyodo News reported from Yakutsk, Russia.

By replacing the nuclei of egg cells from an elephant with those taken from the mammoth's marrow cells, embryos with mammoth DNA can be produced, Kyodo said, citing the researchers.

The scientists will then plant the embryos into elephant wombs for delivery, as the two species are close relatives, the report said.

Securing nuclei with an undamaged gene is essential for the nucleus transplantation technique, it said.

For scientists involved in the research since the late 1990s, finding nuclei with undamaged mammoth genes has been a challenge. Mammoths became extinct about 10,000 years ago.

But the discovery in August of the well-preserved thigh bone in Siberia has increased the chances of a successful cloning.

Global warming has thawed ground in eastern Russia that is usually almost permanently frozen, leading to the discoveries of a number of frozen mammoths, the report said.

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Story on Gizmodo

I don't really have any post-LC biology so how likely is this or is it just hype? IT SOUNDS AWESOME

Adam Khor

Conor108 wrote: »

No idea if this should go here or in biology/pop sci.



Link

Story on Gizmodo

I don't really have any post-LC biology so how likely is this or is it just hype?

They've been planning to clone the mammoth for ages, and so far it doesn´t seem any close to happening... I do remember that one time the experiment failed because they implanted the embryo on an African elephant's uterus, and they said something about how they should have used an Asian elephant instead since its more closely related to the mammoth. But I never heard about the experiment being repeated...

I think the real question is, what's the point of bringing it back? I mean I would certainly want to see it, but what kind of life would such an animal have? It would be captive, it would probably have all sorts of health problems like most cloned animals IIRC and it would be all alone... and without enough genetic diversity they can´t dream of "bringing the species back". It would just be done to prove that it CAN be done (pardon me for sounding like Ian Malcolm, whatever).

Mickeroo

Part of me says its unethical, part of me says "please please do it that sounds awesome".

Paparazzo

Awww, I thought you said a "man-moth"

Galvasean

Paparazzo wrote: »

Awww, I thought you said a "man-moth"

That's moth-man to you!

Conor108

Just reading this article there.

The Pyrenean Ibex became the first taxon ever to become "un-extinct", for a period of seven minutes in January 2009, when a cloned female Ibex was born alive and survived a short time, before dying from lung defects.

I had no idea something like that had happened!