Wooly Mammoth DNA Decoded

[Lemur]

This is just too cool. If they start cloning them, well, I can't say I want one. But maybe if they could make me a miniature one, you know, a midget wooly mammoth, that might be a great conversation-starter.

Scientists have pieced together part of the genetic recipe of the extinct woolly mammoth.

The 5,000 DNA letters spell out the genetic code of its mitochondria, the structures in the cell that generate energy.

The research, published in the online edition of Nature, gives an insight into the elephant family tree.

It shows that the mammoth was most closely related to the Asian rather than the African elephant.

The three groups split from a common ancestor about six million years ago, with Asian elephants and mammoths diverging about half a million years later.

"We have finally resolved the phylogeny of the mammoth which has been controversial for the last 10 years," lead author Michael Hofreiter of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, told the BBC News website.

[Strike For The South]

I know what I want for my birthday :cheers:

[Samurai Waki]

The newest threat in the modern day Arctic Battlefield

[Prodigal]

Now if they could just bring the Dodo back there would be something other than turkey to eat at christmas.

[bmolsson]

Imagine the mammoth burgers you can make....

[Adrian II]

Imagine the mammoth burgers you can make....

Heinz is rich enough as it is.

[Xiahou]

Heinz is rich enough as it is.

I was thinking mammoth burgers might be more an A1 type meal.

[Viking]

Now we must move onto the dinosaurs.
It was found some "meat"(there is a better word, but I don`t know it in English) on dinosaur skeleton relatively recently, I`m hoping that it could possibly be DNA in it.

[Ianofsmeg16]

Now we must move onto the dinosaurs.
It was found some "meat"(there is a better word, but I don`t know it in English) on dinosaur skeleton relatively recently, I`m hoping that it could possibly be DNA in it.

I am gonna dispell a myth created by jurassic park here fellas, the technique shown in both the book and the movie, by which you take the blood out of mosquitoes that have been "frozen" in amber is pure fiction, Michael Chrichton said so himself. the best chance we would have of bringing back a dinosaur is from mummified skins (there have been some mummified fossils of an Edmontosaurus found) but they would have lost all DNA millions of years ago. The fact remains that dinosaurs died out far too long ago for any DNA to remain on any part of their bodies. And anyway, we have no idea how these creatures would behave, so how could we prepare our reaction to these ancient creatures, or how could we predict the reaction of the creatuires themselves when faced with a world 65 million years different from their own? Thanks for reading

P.S The wooly mammoth thing does sound awesome!

[Viking]

I am gonna dispell a myth created by jurassic park here fellas, the technique shown in both the book and the movie, by which you take the blood out of mosquitoes that have been "frozen" in amber is pure fiction, Michael Chrichton said so himself. the best chance we would have of bringing back a dinosaur is from mummified skins (there have been some mummified fossils of an Edmontosaurus found) but they would have lost all DNA millions of years ago. The fact remains that dinosaurs died out far too long ago for any DNA to remain on any part of their bodies. And anyway, we have no idea how these creatures would behave, so how could we prepare our reaction to these ancient creatures, or how could we predict the reaction of the creatuires themselves when faced with a world 65 million years different from their own? Thanks for reading

We have found actual "meat"(the good word i still missing) in dinosaurs. It was found in the knee or something, where it had been preserved. But if you`re sure that DNA can`t survive that long, then it doesn`t really matter.

[Ianofsmeg16]

the muscle that they have found is probably too Dead for it to contain DNA, unfortunately, as a dinosaur lover i would like to see at least one dinosaur in my life, but I'd order it shot after I've had a close inspection. no Raptor is going to get loose on my watch :)

[Viking]

I don`t quite see why being so cautious with dinosaurs; remember, they aren`t supernatural.

[Ianofsmeg16]

To Really be able to study them, you would have to see them roaming free in there natural habitat, fpr many of them that would mean wide open plains, places that could be near civilisation. unfortunatly some will eventually get out of a hypothetical "park" and into these towns, causing havoc. Remember, we have no idea what these animals behaved like, their skin could be bullet proof (unlikely i know, but as an example) so how would a defensless town cope with dinosaurs roaming around?

[Louis VI the Fat]

This is all very exciting!

Recreating all those long extinct animals is not realistic with our present scientific means and will not be for a long time - if ever.
But the new insights on evolutionary relationships these DNA-decoding techniques allow are spectacular enough by themselves.
Fantastic.


@Viking: tissue, flesh?

[Viking]

To Really be able to study them, you would have to see them roaming free in there natural habitat, fpr many of them that would mean wide open plains, places that could be near civilisation. unfortunatly some will eventually get out of a hypothetical "park" and into these towns, causing havoc. Remember, we have no idea what these animals behaved like, their skin could be bullet proof (unlikely i know, but as an example) so how would a defensless town cope with dinosaurs roaming around?

If they have bullet proof skin, then just blow them up!
Set up electric fences around that park and have heavy security around(machine guns, cannons etc. if necessary).
But the dinosaur doesn`t even have to be dangerous at all, remember that there is also many small species, and that the biggest dinosaurs were vegetarians and moved really slow.

[Viking]

@Viking: tissue, flesh?

Tissue might be the word, thanks!

[Kralizec]

Awesome news!

They have been able to recreate mammoths for a much longer time, though. Theoreticly you could take an ovum from an Asian or African elephant, place mammoth DNA in it and place it in an elephants womb. For some reason, nobody ever had the balls to do it

[Adrian II]

I was thinking mammoth burgers might be more an A1 type meal.

As long as it is A+ you are safe.

[Ludens]

The 5,000 DNA letters spell out the genetic code of its mitochondria, the structures in the cell that generate energy.

The research, published in the online edition of Nature, gives an insight into the elephant family tree.

I am sorry to dissappoint you guys, but they haven't found the code of the Mammoth genome, just that of its mitochondria. One of the odd things about our cells (and those of other animals and plants) is that there are tiny other "cells" inside them. These are mitochondria (plants also have so-called chloroplasts) and they look a lot like bacteria. They even have their own genome. A very small one, totally insufficient to survive outside of our cells, but a genome all the same. Their function is energy production: with the help of mitochondria, our cells are able to produce approx. ten times as much energy from a unit of glucose as they would be on their own. Chloroplasts use the same reaction, but the other way round: they use energy (sunlight) to produce glucose.

Since mitochondria don't mate and their genome has a very constant rate mutation, they are very useful for determining evolutionairy lineages. But for cloning purpose, they are AFAIK useless.

[English assassin]

Oh. mDNA would be useless for cloning right enough.

Never mind, they can't take the giant squid away from us, can they Dev dave?

Lets hope they find a Thylacine soon.

[Xiahou]

Lets hope they find a Thylacine soon.

Why, how do they taste?

[English assassin]

Why, how do they taste?

A bit like panda I hear.

[solypsist]

cloning a living dinosaur would pretty much another nail* in the intelligent design theory certain groups keep trying to foist upon rational people. so let's get to it!

*
ie. the argument that Fossils never were animals. They're a hoax by Satan and/or materialistic science.
and
They were put there by God to test your faith.

[Red Harvest]

I am sorry to dissappoint you guys, but they haven't found the code of the Mammoth genome, just that of its mitochondria. One of the odd things about our cells (and those of other animals and plants) is that there are tiny other "cells" inside them. These are mitochondria (plants also have so-called chloroplasts) and they look a lot like bacteria. They even have their own genome. A very small one, totally insufficient to survive outside of our cells, but a genome all the same. Their function is energy production: with the help of mitochondria, our cells are able to produce approx. ten times as much energy from a unit of glucose as they would be on their own. Chloroplasts use the same reaction, but the other way round: they use energy (sunlight) to produce glucose.

Since mitochondria don't mate and their genome has a very constant rate mutation, they are very useful for determining evolutionairy lineages. But for cloning purpose, they are AFAIK useless.

Their is another group working on the nuclear DNA as well. They say they can extract the entire genome from what they have in about a year. It is assembling it into a working chromosome that is the problem.

Theoretically, it should be possible to use an elephant to make a hybrid and work out the kinks, but it could take a very long time. They are hoping to extract some frozen sperm. The elephant is a close enough relative (descendant) that it should be viable. By doing the same thing over several generations you could get a descendant that is mostly mammoth.

[Lemur]

I am sorry to dissappoint you guys, but they haven't found the code of the Mammoth genome, just that of its mitochondria.

Don not confuse me with your facts! I want a miniature woolly mammoth, and I shall have one!

[Viking]

Theoretically, it should be possible to use an elephant to make a hybrid and work out the kinks, but it could take a very long time. They are hoping to extract some frozen sperm. The elephant is a close enough relative (descendant) that it should be viable. By doing the same thing over several generations you could get a descendant that is mostly mammoth.

Even better, you make a mammoth-clone and let it develop that far in labratory that it has developed stem cells. Then you insert those in a female elephant embryo. If done correctly, the elephant will grow up with mammoth genitals.

Now you clone another mammoth and insert the egg in the elephant with mammoth genitals, and 20 months later you have a mammoth.

(Just as a sidenote, it is possible insert human stem cells into two elephant (male and female) embryos. Then make these stem cells become the genitals of the elephants.
If those two elephants gets offspring together, the offspring will be human beings.)

[Ianofsmeg16]

Now you clone another mammoth and insert the egg in the elephant with mammoth genitals, and 20 months later you have a mammoth.

Sorry to lower the tone but it has to be said...I have mammoth gentials


ok...back on topic all this stuff is very exciting but i won't believ they can re-create a wooly mammoth until i see one staring me in the face

[Dutch_guy]

Don not confuse me with your facts! I want a miniature woolly mammoth, and I shall have one!

hear hear !

[Byzantine Mercenary]

the biggest problem in bringing back extinct species is the tendancy of DNA to break up over time even when preserved, think of it like leaveing a tower block exposed to the wind for 10000 years, all that you would have left is the building blocks, the same is true of DNA i belive that the material found inside the Tyranosaur bone was just made up of all of the constituant bases of the DNA broken up and so of no use to anyone.
It is believed that mitochondria may have once been a species similar to bacteria that formed a mutantly benificial relationship with our earlyest ansestors, so recovering mitochondiral DNA wont lead to us being able to clone mamoths.
However if intact sperm (which has less DNA and so is less likely to break) is found it could be possible to create a hybrid but you usually find that most interspecies hybrids have a low fertility so it would probably be quite hard to make a pure mamoth.
insidentally i think that you can already enjoy the nutritious taste of mamoth, ive heard of preserved mamoth being eaten in siberia, i guess its like steak thats been in the freezer for a while?

[Soulforged]

I've heard this before, I hope this time it works. :cheers:

When I posted the Turin's Shroud thread nobody was interested :mecry: