A complete genome has been extracted from a 52,000-year-old woolly mammoth, which might bring us closer to resurrecting the species.
A woolly mammoth that died 52,000 years ago is so well preserved that it is possible both to read its full genome and to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of its chromosomes – information that can provide unprecedented details about how the animal’s genes behaved during its life. The extraordinary feat was possible because the animal’s remains were naturally freeze-dried, preserving its DNA in a glass-like state.
Scientists found the mammoth remains in a cave in Siberia in 2018 where they had been preserved in the permafrost. The mammoth’s tissues were dry, “but not as dry as commercial beef jerky”, says Olga Dudchenko at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, “and it was actually woolly”. Eager to see what genetic information they could glean, Dudchenko and her colleagues sampled flesh behind the mammoth’s ear and sequenced the DNA.
They had been playing with a technique called Hi-C, which creates a 3D structure of a genome — including the chromosomes and the way DNA sits within them.
DNA is not in the business of sticking around long after death.
Normally, after an animal or other creature dies, its DNA quickly breaks into smaller and smaller pieces as it and the body decays. It' difficult to read the DNA bases, the more degraded the sample is ore data points are missed.
By the time the DNA becomes ancient — hundreds or thousands of years after death — researchers only have access to small sections of the DNA to piece back together, like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle.If researchers have access to lots of samples, this is easier, as it works like having multiple copies of the same jigsaw puzzle with different missing pieces.
Teams also can sometimes use "reference genomes" from genetically similar species to check they are on the right track.
Hi-C works in a similar way to this reference genome but in 3D, and detects which sections of fragmented DNA are likely to be neighbours and interact with each other.
De-Extinction
Scientists at Colossal BioSciences run a landmark de-extinction project - the resurrection of the Woolly Mammoth - or more specifically a cold-resistant elephant with all of the core biological traits of the Woolly Mammoth. It will walk like a Woolly Mammoth, look like one, sound like one, but most importantly it will be able to inhabit the same ecosystem previously abandoned by the Mammoth’s extinction.
Though everyone is not for it most likey it will happen. Once the gene edit is done, a nuclear transfer and fertilization could be done using an elephant egg from a healthy female Asian elephant. Then go ahead to Implant the early embryo into the healthy Asian or African elephant surrogates. The end result would be a healthy Woolly Mammoth.
A woolly mammoth that died 52,000 years ago is so well preserved that it is possible both to read its full genome and to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of its chromosomes – information that can provide unprecedented details about how the animal’s genes behaved during its life. The extraordinary feat was possible because the animal’s remains were naturally freeze-dried, preserving its DNA in a glass-like state.
Scientists found the mammoth remains in a cave in Siberia in 2018 where they had been preserved in the permafrost. The mammoth’s tissues were dry, “but not as dry as commercial beef jerky”, says Olga Dudchenko at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, “and it was actually woolly”. Eager to see what genetic information they could glean, Dudchenko and her colleagues sampled flesh behind the mammoth’s ear and sequenced the DNA.
They had been playing with a technique called Hi-C, which creates a 3D structure of a genome — including the chromosomes and the way DNA sits within them.
DNA is not in the business of sticking around long after death.
Normally, after an animal or other creature dies, its DNA quickly breaks into smaller and smaller pieces as it and the body decays. It' difficult to read the DNA bases, the more degraded the sample is ore data points are missed.
By the time the DNA becomes ancient — hundreds or thousands of years after death — researchers only have access to small sections of the DNA to piece back together, like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle.If researchers have access to lots of samples, this is easier, as it works like having multiple copies of the same jigsaw puzzle with different missing pieces.
Teams also can sometimes use "reference genomes" from genetically similar species to check they are on the right track.
Hi-C works in a similar way to this reference genome but in 3D, and detects which sections of fragmented DNA are likely to be neighbours and interact with each other.
De-Extinction
Scientists at Colossal BioSciences run a landmark de-extinction project - the resurrection of the Woolly Mammoth - or more specifically a cold-resistant elephant with all of the core biological traits of the Woolly Mammoth. It will walk like a Woolly Mammoth, look like one, sound like one, but most importantly it will be able to inhabit the same ecosystem previously abandoned by the Mammoth’s extinction.
Though everyone is not for it most likey it will happen. Once the gene edit is done, a nuclear transfer and fertilization could be done using an elephant egg from a healthy female Asian elephant. Then go ahead to Implant the early embryo into the healthy Asian or African elephant surrogates. The end result would be a healthy Woolly Mammoth.
