Extinct 'tiger' DNA implanted in mouse cells
Last Updated: 1:01am BST 20/05/2008
Scientists have taken a gene from an extinct creature, the Tasmanian tiger, and made it work in a mouse embryo, writes Science Editor Roger Highfield.
The pioneering work shows how researchers can investigate the biology of an extinct species by putting its genes in a living organism.
DNA from a Tasmanian tiger, which was hunted to extinction in the wild in the early 1900s, has been made to work in a mouse. They say that the prospect of cloning the tiger, the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times, remains distant.
The pioneering work shows how researchers can investigate the biology of an extinct species by putting its genes in a living organism.
DNA from a Tasmanian tiger, which was hunted to extinction in the wild in the early 1900s, has been made to work in a mouse. They say that the prospect of cloning the tiger, the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times, remains distant.
The last known Tasmanian tiger died in captivity in Hobart Zoo in 1936 after being hunted to extinction in the wild in the early 1900s. Fortunately, young and adult tissues were preserved in alcohol in several museum collections. Using century-old specimens from Museum Victoria in Melbourne, researchers from the University of Melbourne and the University of Texas extracted a gene from the creature, isolated DNA, and inserted it into mouse embryos. The DNA showed a biological function in the developing mouse cartilage, which will later form the bone.
"This is the first time that DNA from an extinct species has been used to induce a functional response in another living organism," said Dr Andrew Pask at the University of Melbourne, who led the research.
"As more and more species of animals become extinct, we are continuing to lose critical knowledge.
"Up until now, we have only been able to examine gene sequences from extinct animals. This re-search was developed to go one step further to examine extinct gene function in a whole organism."
Prof Richard Behringer, of the University of Texas, added: "This research has enormous potential for many applications including gaining a better understanding of the biology of extinct animals." "At a time when extinction rates are increasing at an alarming rate, especially of mammals, this research discovery is critical," says Professor Marilyn Renfree, the University of Melbourne's senior author on the paper. "For those species that have already become extinct, our method shows that access to their genetic biodiversity may not be completely lost."
Some have hoped that modern biology methods could help revive a thylacine, perhaps by cloning. But she says it is "probably an impossible dream. Our study was aimed at developing methods for examining the function and evolution of genes from extinct mammals. "We chose the thylacine because it is such an icon in Australia as well as giving us some new information on the function of the thylacine genome."
