Japan, Russia see chance to clone mammoth

[buckminster fuller]

"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.

(c) 2011 AFP"


source : http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-japan-russia-chance-clone-mammoth.html

[buckminster fuller]

Another article, same subject : Mammoths May Be Roaming the World In Five Years

"Scientists have been trying to clone woolly mammoths for years, but now they're really close. So close that in five years you may see herds of this gigantic beast—one of the favorite extinct prehistoric animals of the all-time.

Scientists from Japan's Kinki University and the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum have discovered well preserved marrow in a thigh bone discovered in Siberia, buried under the permafrost. The marrow is in such good condition that its cells' DNA could be used to replace the nuclei of elephant egg cells. This will allow scientist to create mammoth embryos.

The team wants to plant these embryos inside the wombs of elephant mothers so they can grow until birth. Although bigger than elephants, both animals are similar enough for this to work. This is a similar technique used in current cloning processes. The key is that the DNA has to be intact in order for this process to work. This discovery is their chance to achieve their objective.
Bring'em on

Mammoths May Be Roaming the World In Five YearsSome may say that we should leave woolly mammoths rest in peace, that we shouldn't play with nature. However, some theories say it were humans who actually drove the woolly mammoth to extinction. Shouldn't we get it back? I say yes!

Every kid in this world, myself included, would love to see these beasts roaming the tundra once again, along with bisons. In fact, I think we should bring more species exterminated by humans back to life. We can start with dodos. As long as we don't bring a group of T-Rex back, we will fine.

Extra points: grilled mammoth chops. [Kyodo News via Daily Mail and AFP]"

source (http://gizmodo.com/5864908/mammoths-may-be-roaming-the-world-in-five-years)

[Thefrenzy1978]

I agree to bring back animals back which went extinct because of human activity's but i think the mammoth have to remain in the colder climates or not sure it would survive the worlds climate is very different than it was when it went extinct and i think they should take that in consideration before they start bringing any animal from extinction .

thanks Mike