Scientific Research
The Pyrenean ibex, a type of mountain goat, and was officially announced to be extinct in 2000 when the last goat was found dead in northern part of Spain.
Shortly before it died, scientists had taken skin samples of the goat to preserve in liquid nitrogen.
Using DNA that they took from the goat's skin samples, they were able to replace the goat's genetic material in their eggs. And that is how they cloned a female Pyrenean ibex. That was the first time an extinct animal had been cloned.
Sadly, the newborn goat passed shortly after birth because of physical birth defects in its lungs. This lung defect appeared in other cloning procedures as well.
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Research accomplished by Japanese geneticist, Teruhiko Wakayama, raised hopes that even species that became extinct a long time ago could be revived after he used cells that were taken from mice that had been frozen 16 years ago, to make healthy clones.
But attempts to bring back species such as woolly mammoths and perhaps the Dodo is very difficult. Even when DNA is preserved in ice, it still deteriorates over time and can create deficiencies and defects in the DNA.
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The process-
They have to take old DNA samples, and rearrange them into a full genome. The next step is to inject it into embryonic cells. Then they find the appropriate living place to give birth.
However, before all of that happens they have to chose the animals they are going to clone. They do so using these questions: Is the species desirable – do they hold an important ecological function or are they beloved by humans? Are the species practical choices – do we have access to tissue that could give us good quality DNA samples or germ cells to reproduce the species? And are they able to be reintroduced into the world – are the habitats in which they live available and do we know why they went extinct in the first place?
Shortly before it died, scientists had taken skin samples of the goat to preserve in liquid nitrogen.
Using DNA that they took from the goat's skin samples, they were able to replace the goat's genetic material in their eggs. And that is how they cloned a female Pyrenean ibex. That was the first time an extinct animal had been cloned.
Sadly, the newborn goat passed shortly after birth because of physical birth defects in its lungs. This lung defect appeared in other cloning procedures as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research accomplished by Japanese geneticist, Teruhiko Wakayama, raised hopes that even species that became extinct a long time ago could be revived after he used cells that were taken from mice that had been frozen 16 years ago, to make healthy clones.
But attempts to bring back species such as woolly mammoths and perhaps the Dodo is very difficult. Even when DNA is preserved in ice, it still deteriorates over time and can create deficiencies and defects in the DNA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The process-
They have to take old DNA samples, and rearrange them into a full genome. The next step is to inject it into embryonic cells. Then they find the appropriate living place to give birth.
However, before all of that happens they have to chose the animals they are going to clone. They do so using these questions: Is the species desirable – do they hold an important ecological function or are they beloved by humans? Are the species practical choices – do we have access to tissue that could give us good quality DNA samples or germ cells to reproduce the species? And are they able to be reintroduced into the world – are the habitats in which they live available and do we know why they went extinct in the first place?