Tasmanian tiger DNA comes alive in mouse

[greyl]

A University of Melbourne team has broken new ground, extracting genes from the extinct tasmanian tiger and bringing them back to life in another living creature.

The team put the thylacine DNA into a mouse embryo in what the university's Dr Andrew Pask says is the first time DNA from an extinct species has been used "to induce a functional response in another living organism."

The thylacine DNA reproduced in the mouse's body and showed biological function, reviving hopes that the tiger may one day be successfully cloned.

The findings will be published in an international scientific journal tomorrow.

More: www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/20/2249778.htm

edit to add more background info:

The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) is the only species of the marsupial family Thylacinidae to have existed within historical times. It is often referred to as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, but being a marsupial, it is neither a tiger or a wolf in any true sense. It is, however, an excellent example of convergent evolution. This is the process by which rather distantly related species independently acquire similar characteristics while evolving in separate and sometimes varying ecosystems. This occurs as a result of adaptation to similar environments and ways of life. The thylacine's body shape approximately resembles that of the placental wolf because it is a cursorial predator which occupies a similar ecological niche. Apart from the notable differences in dentition, even the thylacine's skull structure superficially parallels that of a canid.

The last survivor of a very ancient and once diverse family of carnivorous marsupials, the thylacine is a truly amazing and beautiful mammal. Sadly, it is the victim of one of man's most atrocious acts of destruction toward the fauna of Australia. Out of misunderstanding, irrational fear and simply because it was perceived as a threat to economic interests, a genocidal assault was waged against the species. Thus, thousands of thylacines were destroyed by man during the 19th and early 20th centuries. By the time that this action was seen as the horrible tragedy that it truly was, the thylacine had been persecuted nearly to extinction.

The thylacine has always been one of my specialized areas of study and research, and through this virtual museum, I hope to promote a greater awareness of this most remarkable marsupial.

More: www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/index.htm

[saltpoint]

1. In a related story, house cats are buying handguns in record numbers.

[NV Whino]

2. Let's see...

we don't have enough species currently on the endangered list so we have to revive an extinct species.

I mean this could be useful when all the others are extinct as well, but I would rather put time and effort into saving what we have.

And talk about the mouse that roared....

[greyl]

4. True, but...

I think the time and effort to save endangered species would need to come from a much different source than those smallish University teams who might succeed in reviving extinct species. It will take the collective efforts of hundreds of millions of people to have an effect on the current mass extinction.

It's easier for me to approve of "reviving" a species that disappeared quite recently and in the way the Tasmanian tiger did than it is to approve of, say, reviving a Neanderthal human. Some thorny dilemmas do come up with this subject. :)

[Evoman]

6. Man, it would be AWESOME to try to revive a neanderthal.

I'd totally work on that project.

[TheFarseer]

3. I find this fascinating

I hope the tasmanian tiger will once again roam Australia. It would be even better if they could solve the habitat problems too.

[semillama]

5. If it has a taste for rabbit, a revived Tasmanian Tiger population

would be just what Australia needs...