Scientists plan to resurrect the Tasmanian tiger 100 years after its extinction

Almost 100 years after the disappearance tasmanian tiger can come back to life thanks to a science project.

The project is on trend genetics to recover missing animals, such as the now-famous Woolly Mammoth Return Initiative, which is worth at least $15 million.

Genetics and resurrection

The project is moving forward in the area genetics such as the restoration of ancient DNA and artificial reproduction. It is led by Andrew Pask, professor at the University of Melbourne and director of the Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research laboratory. The initiative is partnering with Colossal Biosciences, founded by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church, the latter responsible for the long-awaited resurrection of the mammoth.

To try to achieve this, the scientists hope to build a complete genomic map of the animal and compare it to its closest living relative. fat-tailed dunnartcarnivorous marsupial animal the size of a mouse.

After identifying differences between the two maps, the researchers will edit the DNA dunnart in every place where it differs from tasmanian tigeralso called thylacine.

Once the team has successfully programmed the cell, Pask said that stem cells and reproductive technology, using Dunnart as surrogates, “will turn that cell back into a living animal.”

“Our ultimate goal with this technology is to return these species to the wild, where they played an absolutely important role in the ecosystem. So our last hope is that one day you will see them again in the bushes of Tasmania,” he said. .

The team did not set a timeline for the project, but said progress would be faster than efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth, noting that elephants gestate much longer than dunnarts.

In memory of the Tasmanian tigers

Thylacines were small but not ferocious predators that lived freely on the continents until they were reduced to Tasmania 2000 years ago.

Unfortunately, they fell victim to European settlers who began to hunt them down, blaming them for the loss of livestock in the area.

Last tasmanian tiger he lived in captivity named Benjamin and died in 1936 at Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania.

Recreating the complete genome of a lost animal from the DNA contained in old thylacine skeletons is extremely difficult and therefore some genetic information will be missing, explained Tom Gilbert, professor at the GLOBE Institute at the University of Copenhagen. CNN.

Perhaps, he said, a genetically deficient thylacine hybrid could have health problems and not survive without a lot of help from humans. Other experts question the very idea of ​​spending tens of millions of dollars on extinction attempts when so many living animals are on the brink of extinction.

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