Life uh.... finds a way
Many of us are at least somewhat familiar with film or book "Jurassic Park", the story deals with ideas of resurrecting dinosaurs and the moral delimas that come with it. While this seemed like fantasy in the 90's when the book and movie were released we are coming closer to a point this may be a reality. With the advent of new and advanced techniques in molecular biology there are a few pathways that de-extinction is actually taking place. There are three main paths of de-extinction currently; Back breeding, Cloning and Genetic engineering.
Back breeding and is actually quite simple in practice, basically two species that are thought to be related to the extinct species are bred together to try to "resurrect resurrect traits that have been lost or diluted over evolutionary time" (Shapiro). The hard part is determining which species may be genetically linked and what genes have been dispersed where in modern cattle. However, even this has become easier with better genomic sequencing techniques.
Cloning is something that most of us are more familiar with as most of us have at least heard of Dolly the sheep. Cloning, when it works, generates a genetically identical organism (Shaprio) which is incredibly beneficial for the purposes of de-extinction however it really only works on recently deceased or living organisms, which most extinct species don't fall into this category. This method has potential to be very useful for repopulating endangered species or resurrecting recently extinct species (Shapiro).
Lastly, genetic engineering, which is the most recent and most promising method of actual resurrection. Advances in genetic sequencing and genome editing have made it possible to not only sequence ancient DNA but to edit DNA in vitro of closely related species to the extinct organism (Shapiro). The next few steps are very similar to cloning if a viable surrogate can be found. While this method is the most promising for de-extinction of long dead species, there are still many complications. One of the many being ancient DNA is highly fragmented and another big problem involves finding a living species with a close enough genome that can be edited to resemble the extinct species genome (Shapiro). This method is also is not effective on organisms that lay eggs since the "reproductive physiology of these animals limits access to and manipulation of the very early egg" (Shapiro). There are methods in development to overcome this hurdle however so the dream of resurrecting ancient birds and reptiles (dinosaurs) is still not entirely dead.
While resurrecting dinosaurs may be the cool thing to do, there are many limitations before there de-extinction would be plausible and even if it becomes real in the near future there will be a very real debate on if we even should morality aside. The organism that are currently on the list of creatures to be resurrected are much more practical and feasibly wouldn't knock our entire ecosystem out of whack. Auroches, were the first species to be looked at for de-extinction due to their potential practicality. Auroches are an ancient breed of cattle that died out about 2000 years ago, they are much larger than modern cattle which would be beneficial for industry. Mammoths and carrier pigeons are other organism that are likely to be the first to become de-extinct.
It is truly amazing to think that 150 years ago the Mendel Gregor was just identifying basic principles of genetics were just being understood, 60 years ago the basic structure of DNA was finally understood and now we are at the point where bringing long dead species is but a stones throw away. The world moves so fast, which is a blessing but can become a heavy burden if each step forward is not carefully considered. In the words of Ian Malcolm, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
1. Shapiro, B. (2017), Pathways to de-extinction: how close can we get to resurrection of an extinct species?. Funct Ecol, 31: 996–1002. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12705
2. https://www.dna-worldwide.com/resource/160/history-dna-timeline. Accessed. 2. Nov, 2017
Back breeding and is actually quite simple in practice, basically two species that are thought to be related to the extinct species are bred together to try to "resurrect resurrect traits that have been lost or diluted over evolutionary time" (Shapiro). The hard part is determining which species may be genetically linked and what genes have been dispersed where in modern cattle. However, even this has become easier with better genomic sequencing techniques.
Cloning is something that most of us are more familiar with as most of us have at least heard of Dolly the sheep. Cloning, when it works, generates a genetically identical organism (Shaprio) which is incredibly beneficial for the purposes of de-extinction however it really only works on recently deceased or living organisms, which most extinct species don't fall into this category. This method has potential to be very useful for repopulating endangered species or resurrecting recently extinct species (Shapiro).
Lastly, genetic engineering, which is the most recent and most promising method of actual resurrection. Advances in genetic sequencing and genome editing have made it possible to not only sequence ancient DNA but to edit DNA in vitro of closely related species to the extinct organism (Shapiro). The next few steps are very similar to cloning if a viable surrogate can be found. While this method is the most promising for de-extinction of long dead species, there are still many complications. One of the many being ancient DNA is highly fragmented and another big problem involves finding a living species with a close enough genome that can be edited to resemble the extinct species genome (Shapiro). This method is also is not effective on organisms that lay eggs since the "reproductive physiology of these animals limits access to and manipulation of the very early egg" (Shapiro). There are methods in development to overcome this hurdle however so the dream of resurrecting ancient birds and reptiles (dinosaurs) is still not entirely dead.
While resurrecting dinosaurs may be the cool thing to do, there are many limitations before there de-extinction would be plausible and even if it becomes real in the near future there will be a very real debate on if we even should morality aside. The organism that are currently on the list of creatures to be resurrected are much more practical and feasibly wouldn't knock our entire ecosystem out of whack. Auroches, were the first species to be looked at for de-extinction due to their potential practicality. Auroches are an ancient breed of cattle that died out about 2000 years ago, they are much larger than modern cattle which would be beneficial for industry. Mammoths and carrier pigeons are other organism that are likely to be the first to become de-extinct.
It is truly amazing to think that 150 years ago the Mendel Gregor was just identifying basic principles of genetics were just being understood, 60 years ago the basic structure of DNA was finally understood and now we are at the point where bringing long dead species is but a stones throw away. The world moves so fast, which is a blessing but can become a heavy burden if each step forward is not carefully considered. In the words of Ian Malcolm, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
1. Shapiro, B. (2017), Pathways to de-extinction: how close can we get to resurrection of an extinct species?. Funct Ecol, 31: 996–1002. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12705
2. https://www.dna-worldwide.com/resource/160/history-dna-timeline. Accessed. 2. Nov, 2017
WOW, this blog was probably one of my favorites. I found it very interesting. I never knew they were even looking at de-extinction! Great job!
ReplyDeleteI find the idea of "De-extinction" to be quite interesting. I wonder if there will ever be a way to get past all of the many limitations. The resurrection of dinosaurs sounds like a pretty terrifying yet cool thing to see. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI remember as a kid watching animal planet and people talking about something similar to this. I think they mentioned that animals and even us have segments of our DNA which are not activated or used any longer. I assume methylation, histones, and maybe cross and possibly crossover segments of chromosomes have a part in this. So I can see how trying to see what these genes do if they are still present and become activated can help us to find what we thought were lost traits.
ReplyDeleteLook at mammals when they are developing, some of them look very similar, and sometimes humans can be born with tail like appendages from time to time so I think editing DNA to find some long lost traits is defiantly a possibility.
It is truly amazing how far we've come in science, especially with de-extinction being a very real and actual possibility. Cloning and genetic engineering have come so far that we may be able to save endangered species as well as bring back traits that were lost as a result of the extinction of certain species. This makes me excited for the world of science. I cannot wait to see what is next.
ReplyDeleteI was literally reading a news article about bringing back extinct species using genetics. Its very interesting and exciting and it could lead to many possibilities. This could lead to many medical and scientific breakthroughs.
ReplyDeleteIt might be a better use of our resources to devise ways that prevent organisms from going extinct from anthropogenic threats. Still, nice blog, compelling.
ReplyDelete