Scientists Complete Mammoth DNA Project

Woolly Mammoth's DNA Mapped; First Time Genetic Code Of Extinct Animal Unraveled

(AP)  Scientists for the first time have unraveled much of the genetic code of an extinct animal, the ice age's woolly mammoth, and with it they are thawing Jurassic Park dreams.

Their groundbreaking achievement has them contemplating a once unimaginable future when certain prehistoric species might one day be resurrected.

"It could be done. The question is, just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?" asked Stephan Schuster, the Penn State University biochemistry professor and co-author of the new research. "I would be surprised to see if it would take more than 10 or 20 years to do it."

The million-dollar project is a first rough draft, detailing the more than 3 billion DNA building blocks of the mammoth, according to the study published in Thursday's journal Nature. It's about 80 percent finished. But that's enough to give scientists new clues on the timing of evolution and the deadly intricacies of extinction.

The project relied on mammoth hair found frozen in the Siberian permafrost, instead of bone, giving biologists a new method to dig into ancient DNA. Think of it as CSI Siberia, said Schuster. That different technique - along with soaring improvements in genome sequencing and the still embryonic field of synthetic biology - are inspiring scientists to envision a science-fiction-like future.

Crucial to the mammoth mapping are about 20 hairballs. Past efforts to use ancient DNA were hampered because bacteria, viruses and parasites crept into the bone fossils during the millenia-old degradation process, making much of the found genetic material something other than what scientists study. For example, current efforts to study Neanderthal DNA have been complicated because only about 6 percent of the recovered genetic material actually belonged to our ancient cousins.

Schuster says that it should be possible to someday recreate any extinct creature "within the last 100,000 years" as long as it got trapped in permafrost and had hair. But that leaves out the Jurassic Period, the time of dinosaurs.

So Earth's real-life sequel to extinction is far more likely to be Ice Age 3 than Jurassic Park IV.

Three years ago, Japanese scientists said they planned to find frozen mammoth sperm and impregnate an elephant and raise the offspring in a safari park in Siberia. But using genetics to engineer a mammoth makes more sense, Schuster said.

Anthropology professor Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said he no longer considers such ideas impossible. Poinar, who wasn't part of Schuster's study but consulted on the movie Jurassic Park, said director Steven Spielberg may have had it right when he told skeptical scientists: "This is the science of eventuality."

And it doesn't have to be a full resurrected mammoth. Scientists could examine what makes the mammoth different from its closest cousin, the African elephant, and create a hairy hybrid to sit in zoos, said George Church, director of computational genomics at Harvard Medical School: "People would like to see a hairy elephant."

Alex Greenwood, a biology professor at Old Dominion University who also studies ancient DNA called the research "an amazing achievement."

The more practical side of what this new research will do is point out better the evolutionary differences between mammoths and elephants and even humans and chimps, said Church, who wasn't part of the study.

Elephants and mammoths - comparable in size at about 8 to 14 feet tall - diverged along evolutionary paths about 6 million years ago, about the same time humans and chimps did, Schuster said. But there are twice as many differences between the genetic makeup of chimps and humans as those between elephants and mammoths.

"Primates evolved twice as fast as elephants," Schuster said. But some animals such as rodents have had even more evolutionary changes, indicating that it might have to do with size or metabolism, said study co-author Webb Miller.

Another interesting finding is that in the 50 or so species with mostly mapped genomes, there are certain areas where the genetic code is exactly the same in all the animals - except the mammoth.

In other animals these, proteins "stayed the same for a very long time except in the woolly mammoth," said Miller, professor of biology and computer science, also at Penn State. "I don't know what it means. All I did was find them."

Miller and Schuster noticed that most of the mammoths they examined had far less genetic diversity than other species that are still alive and that may also give a clue into the biology of extinction.

So the duo are also applying what they learned from the cold Siberian behemoth to their other efforts to help save the endangered Tasmanian devil of Australia. They notice the same dramatic lack of genetic diversity in that modern day creature, Schuster said.

[chuston6]

to emmonnier,
Quite a diatribe- however, if you don''t mind a little TRUTH, here goes-Modern man WAS in fact, around when the wolly mammoths were present in North America. As an archaeologist, I can assure you that the mammoth AND prehistoric people ((Paleo-Indians), DID live at the same time! I have excavated mammoths with big fat Clovis spearpints still embedded in their bones at river crossings in Florida.

You are also way off-base about the bison- Bison americanus (the surviving species of bison (that we know as the buffalo), is the SMALLER of the TWO species of bison that inhabited North America. The larger species (Bison antiquitus)did go extinct while the Paleo-Indians were in-place in the U.S. As a matter of fact, there have been Bison antiquitus remains recovered from kill sites that also have big fat Clovis pints imbedded in their bone. A fair number of anthropologists have postulated that the Paleo-Indians were in part responsible for their extinction. Re-constituted mammoths and the BIG bison could be re-introduced into the wild.

[ibzjem]

How stupid to claim "complete" when it is only 80%. Misleading headlines like that will drive me away from CBSnews.

Posted by godseyesore at 10:12 PM : Nov 19, 2008

I think they are referring to "Complete" in a transitive sense, as a verb. As in: "soon they will complete the project". Not past tense as in "the project is complete."

[earache4]

I wonder what fresh mammoth meat tastes like.
Posted by rf35 at 05:52 AM

Ask McCain.

[chuston6]

From a genetic standpoint- it should be easy-peezy to replicate a wolly mammouth using elephant DNA. By the way, the reason they are called mammouths is because they were MUCH larger than the surviiving elephant species. One writer mused about what mammouth would tast like? When a Siberian mammouth was discovered some 70 years ago in a glacier, the mammouth was batuchered and cooked- the sled dogs seemed to like it a lot, according to the accounts of the expedition. As an archaeologist, I would personally love to see one of these guys "in the flesh". I''ve excavated their bones in Florida river crossings where the mammouths were ambushed by Paleo-Indian hunters (about 8,000 years B.P.). Can we do it? probably- Should we do it? Absolutely!!! European genetics experts revived the long-thought extint Arox (a mean-tempered buffalo) in the past 50 years, by breeding surviving animals that still retained a large percentage of the genetic material that made up the extinct species. Now we have some that are nearly 90% original to the extinct predessor. If the mammouth project succeds, we could likely bring back the dodo, giant tree sloths, and the ill-fated passenger pigeon. The concept of reconstituting species can give us great insight into our own genenome, and the reserach may assist us in understanding **** sapiens better as a bonus.

[trishab56]

I''''m sure glad all this great technology is subject to randomness and chance and does not have any design at all.
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Posted by truthislife1 at 08:11 PM : Nov 19, 2008

-You are not allowed to read this matter. Go back to your fake filled and ill book of the fairytale saints... stay in that scary dreamland until death takes you back, so we can sequence the DNA of Gullibles and Idiots!

[rf35]

I wonder what fresh mammoth meat tastes like.

[emmonnier]

To downtowner97;
Who are you accusing of being responsible for the extinction of the Mammoths? Modern man didn''t even cross the threshhold before they were gone.
As to the bison being brought back. Check again, though the numbers were greatly reduced they are not extinct.
Anyone who thinks it''s a good idea to bring them back just to cage them in a zoo which is not their natural environment should be put in a cage right next to them.

[godseyesore-2009]

How stupid to claim "complete" when it is only 80%. Misleading headlines like that will drive me away from CBSnews.

[marcosis78]

I think it would be interesting to see one. Just like in Jurassic Park though, bringing a primitive animal to a "new world" could give it some shock, but on the other hand, perhaps it acts like a dog and depends how and who it is raised with.

[downtowner97]

We caused their extinction, so we should bring them back. Other species we should bring back include the carrier pidgeon, the dugong, the bison, and the dodo.

A Jurassic Park of these species would be harmless, and would teach people about the importance of preserving species.

[truthislife1]

I''m sure glad all this great technology is subject to randomness and chance and does not have any design at all.

[downsteamjim]

Sounds like a mammoth undertaking.

[perk235]

What a waste of resources. Give it up guys, they''''re extinct for a reason. Just let it go and use your brain power on something more current.
posted by mitchonbs
----------------
All organisms'' gene sequences are of interest because it helps us understand our own genes and those of current animals, in addition to the fields of biochemistry, biology, anthropology, psychology, etc. It helps answer "how things work" currently and in ways we can''t even begin to imagine.

In the future each individual will have their genome sequenced and that will inform medical decisions.

There are jobs in field of bioinformatics, where computer scientists and biologists work together to write programs that search all this DNA data to find meaningful information.

[gohan31]

to all those that can''t, or don''t, see a reason for all this consider. "they" want a new bio weapon. if "they" can incorporate neanderthal man''s strength and modern man results "human gorillas". now that would be a serious soldier!!!

[earache4]

Tusk, tusk....

[displeased]

It''''s all about money being spent wisely, that''''s all.
Posted by mitchoncbs

This study isn''t funded with tax dollars. They are private sponsors.

mytoosense, oh I have an imagination, but it seems to me my tax dollars should be spent to feed the starving children of this country instead of trying to figure out a way to bring back a species that''s been extinct. I know that learning from the past will help us in the future, that is a given. It''s all about money being spent wisely, that''s all.

mytoosense, oh I have an imagination, but it seems to me my tax dollars should be spent to feed the starving children of this country instead of trying to figure out a way to bring back a species that''s been extinct. I know that learning from the past will help us in the future, that is a given. It''s all about money being spent wisely, that''s all.

[talkingham]

I''d like to see the idiot from computational genomics from Harvard sitting in a zoo. People like to see a hairy computational genomics professor too don''t they idiot!

[mytoosense]

What a waste of resources. Give it up guys, they''''re extinct for a reason. Just let it go and use your brain power on something more current.
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Posted by mitchoncbs

Sorry to see you were born without an imagination.