Hope these guys know what they are getting into here.
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| Science & Technology |
| Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years |
| 2011-01-18 |
| [Emirates 24/7] Japanese researchers will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth by using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in around five years time. The researchers will try to revive the species by obtaining tissue this summer from the carcass of a mammoth preserved in a Russian research laboratory, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. "Preparations to realise this goal have been made," Akira Iritani, leader of the team and a professor emeritus of Kyoto University, told the mass-circulation daily. Under the plan, the nuclei of mammoth cells will be inserted into an elephant's egg cell from which the nuclei have been removed, to create an embryo containing mammoth genes, the report said. The embryo will then be inserted into an elephant's uterus in the hope that the animal will eventually give birth to a baby mammoth. The elephant is the closest modern relative of the mammoth, a huge woolly mammal believed to have died out with the last Ice Age. Some mammoth remains still retain useable tissue samples, making it possible to recover cells for cloning, unlike dinosaurs, which disappeared around 65 million years ago and whose remains exist only as fossils Researchers hope to achieve their aim within five to six years, the Yomiuri said. The team, which has invited a Russian mammoth researcher and two US elephant experts to join the project, has established a technique to extract DNA from frozen cells, previously an obstacle to cloning attempts because of the damage cells sustained in the freezing process. Another Japanese researcher, Teruhiko Wakayama of the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology, succeeded in 2008 in cloning a mouse from the cells of another that had been kept in temperatures similar to frozen ground for 16 years. The scientists extracted a cell nucleus from an organ of a dead mouse and planted it into the egg of another mouse which was alive, leading to the birth of the cloned mouse. Based on Wakayama's techniques, Iritani's team devised a method to extract the nuclei of mammoth eggs without damaging them. But a successful cloning will also pose challenges for the team, Iritani warned. "If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed (the mammoth) and whether to display it to the public," Iritani said. "After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors." More than 80 percent of all mammoth finds have been dug up in the permafrost of the vast Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia. Exactly why a majority of the huge creatures that once strode in large herds across Eurasia and North America died out towards the end of the last Ice Age has generated fiery debate. Some experts hold that mammoths were hunted to extinction by the species that was to become the planet's dominant predator -- humans. Others argue that climate change was more to blame, leaving a species adapted for frozen climes ill-equipped to cope with a warming world. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #22 Mitochondria are likely very similar across the genus, assuming they have a common one - likely all from a common ancestor. I think that's the case for hominids. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-01-18 21:43 |
| #21 WM: A lot of people have speculated that the woolly mammoth died out precisely because it was tasty, slow and not overly hard to kill, and would provide a LOT of food for a human tribe. And thus it became a simple equation of humans wanting to eat more, faster, than mammoths could reproduce. The reason this fate didn't befall the elephant was, as the theory goes, because it was faster, more energetic, and if people got too near it would attack them. African elephants, especially, shouldn't be messed with unless you have big guns, because they have little patience for trifling humans. Indian elephants are more mellow. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-18 20:30 |
| #20 Japanese salivating over a new red meat? |
| Posted by: Water Modem 2011-01-18 19:59 |
| #19 #12: Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years Thereby finally giving Rosie O'Donnell a suitable partner. Posted by: gorb|| "later research showed the mating was unsuccessful as the Mammoth's olfactory senses were overcome by the unbelievable stench" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-01-18 18:44 |
| #18 Anything to get helen thomas back into the spotlight, unbelievable. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-01-18 17:32 |
| #17 Either that, or they're really, REALLY good at hiding. That would explain Michael and Rosie. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-01-18 17:16 |
| #16 "...a huge woolly mammal believed to have died out with the last Ice Age." Either that, or they're really, REALLY good at hiding. |
| Posted by: mojo 2011-01-18 17:12 |
| #15 Has Michael Moore died? |
| Posted by: Chaising the Really Smart3203 2011-01-18 16:06 |
| #14 "If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed (the mammoth) and whether to display it to the public," Iritani said. "After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors." Any number of PhD dissertations here. Your tax dollar at work. |
| Posted by: KBK 2011-01-18 14:09 |
| #13 Hey! Even lonely Wooly Mammoths have their standards! |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-01-18 11:58 |
| #12 Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years Thereby finally giving Rosie O'Donnell a suitable partner. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-01-18 10:58 |
| #11 Mitochondria come from the mother. Will this clone have elephant or mammoth mitochondria? |
| Posted by: Water Modem 2011-01-18 10:33 |
| #10 Of course, some wit suggested that if we could build a herd of a few thousand velociraptors, then we could designate There, Ask not what your velociraptors can do for you, but what you can do for your velociraptors. |
| Posted by: Goodluck 2011-01-18 09:54 |
| #9 Some interesting background. First of all, bringing back the mammoth is sort of a holy grail activity in science, and both the Japanese and Russians are willing to spend the bills to make it happen. And before this breakthrough, they were still willing to go ahead with a much more difficult and expensive process that could have taken several generations to produce a pure bred mammoth from an elephant-mammoth cross breed. And, on spec, the Russians have already created a "mammoth preserve" in Siberia, that is their best guess of what mammoths would like. As far as dinosaurs go, the discovery of fossilized soft tissues inside bone a while back has resulted in the possibility that while that DNA cannot be used, it can at least possibly be mapped, then reconstructed from living reptile and even bird DNA, a bit at a time. Of course, some wit suggested that if we could build a herd of a few thousand velociraptors, then we could designate Zimbabwe as their preserve, and parachute them in. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-18 09:43 |
| #8 After the wooly mammoth, Godzilla. Then we're really screwed. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2011-01-18 08:32 |
| #7 Good idea. Once it's demonstrated that a species can be resurrected, then species can't be pressured into extinction, but rather 'put on hold'. That places the whole 'endangered' legal game out of business. You want two dozen, coming right up. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-18 08:23 |
| #6 "After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors." Not since the the last Ice Age has man asked and received the answer. Whats for dinner? Mammoth Steaks Yeah, Whales are just too hard to get now a days. |
| Posted by: Goodluck 2011-01-18 08:21 |
| #5 Bad idea. As soon as it's 'born' the environmentalist and GreenPeace will declare it an endangered species and want to kick all the Japaneses out from from Japan to make room for its 'natural habitat'. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-01-18 08:03 |
| #4 "After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology " Huh? The world it inhabited is gone, how can you even attempt this? This is only the worst of several lines in this article which are nonsensical and terrible science. Concept is interesting, but this article was written by someone who hasn't even taken Bio 101. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2011-01-18 06:33 |
| #3 Japanese researchers will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth Can giant, city stomping, lizards be far behind? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-01-18 02:38 |
| #2 We're working on it. Interesting that this is in Non-WOT. Seems a rather limited view if this succeeds. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2011-01-18 01:11 |
| #1 Hope these guys know what they are getting into here. |
| Posted by: Ebbomp Borgia8301 2011-01-18 00:12 |