the According to the Guardian article Researchers working to bring back the extinct animal known as the Tasmanian tiger have achieved a huge breakthrough, and the key to the discovery has been hidden in a bucket at the back of a Melbourne Museum cupboard.
“It was literally a head in a bucket of ethanol at the back of a cupboard that had been thrown in there with all the skin removed and had been there for about 110 years,” said Professor Andrew Pask from the Center for Integrated Genetic Restoration of Tessin Tiger Research. Tigrr) at the University of Melbourne is its leader.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
According to the researcher's report, the forgotten head of the Tasmanian tiger presented a rather frightening sight, as it began to rot, and in addition, parts of it had previously been uprooted. However, it turned out to be a real treasure, because it contains materials that scientists thought were impossible to find. Among them are long RNA molecules that are vital for reconstructing the genome of an extinct animal.
The animal repatriation project is being led by Colossal, a biotechnology company based in Texas, which has also set out to recreate the woolly mammoth and the dodo using genetic engineering techniques.
The Tasmanian tiger was Australia's only predator. They once lived all over the continent, but about 3,000 years ago they were restricted to Tasmania. The animals with a dog-like appearance and stripes on their backs were widely hunted after European colonization. The last known survivor died in captivity in 1936 and was officially declared extinct in the 1980s.
According to Colossal, researchers have achieved several breakthroughs in their work on this species, bringing the company much closer to its goal of reintroducing it into the wild. Among them is what they say is the highest quality ancient genome to date, with just 45 gaps in the genetic blueprint of about 3 billion pieces of information.
The soft tissues of the Aquarius head contain long sequences of DNA — genetic material that is identical in nearly every cell nucleus in the body — but they also contain long molecules of RNA. According to Bask, the latter was decisive and unexpected. RNA is much less stable than DNA. It varies among tissue types and in practice includes readouts of active genes required for specific tissue function. This meant that the researchers had access to information about the animal's nose, eyes, tongue and other facial materials, which gave them an idea of what tastes and smells a Tasmanian tiger might have, how it sees and how its brain works.
The researchers' goal now is to take stem cells from a living mouse-like animal with DNA similar to the Tasmanian tiger, but much smaller, and transform them via gene editing.
It is possible that they will be born in the foreseeable future
As for the actual time when the first Tasmanian tiger might be born, Pask said he expects the first animal with a similar appearance to be born within three to five years. As he said, researchers are confident they can recreate its skull, legs and even its lines. It is true that there are more question marks.
Other scholars are observing events with varying degrees of caution and skepticism. Some wonder why so much money and effort is being spent on bringing back species when thousands of other species are on the brink of extinction. It's an ambitious project that is likely to lead to breakthroughs that could help conservation, says Euan Ritchie, professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at Deakin University. But he cautioned that there are some serious questions to ask.
There will be some animals that look like Tasmanian tigers, but they will not actually be Tasmanian tigers. How will they behave in the wild? What impacts will it have on the ecosystem?
