"Ceterum censeo 0bama esse delendam."
'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Posted on 03/26/2015 5:19:25 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Researchers from Harvard University have successfully inserted genes from a woolly mammoth into living cells from an Asian elephant, the extinct giant's closest remaining relative.
Harvard geneticist George Church used DNA from Arctic permafrost woolly mammoth samples to copy 14 mammoth genes -- emphasizing those related to its chilly lifestyle.
"We prioritized genes associated with cold resistance including hairiness, ear size, subcutaneous fat and, especially, hemoglobin," Church told The Sunday Times.
Then, using a kind of DNA cut/paste system called CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat), Church dropped the genes into Asian elephant skin cells.
The result? A petri dish of elephant cells functioning normally with mammoth DNA in them, marking the first time mammoth genes have been on the job since the creature went extinct some 4,000 years ago, as Sarah Fecht, from Popular Science, noted.
Longer term, Church and his team hope to first create hybrid elephant/mammoth embryos, grown in artificial wombs, and then raise hybrid elephants that could be genetically wired to thrive in colder climes -- hopefully expanding their range to live at a greater remove from humans.
Longer, longer term, if the hybrid elephant can be created and successfully integrated in the wild, then the team might even try to bring back the woolly mammoth itself.
VIDEO: Are We Finally Ready to Clone a Mammoth?
wired to thrive in colder climes — hopefully expanding their range to live at a greater remove from humans.
cue the FLOTUS pics.
Don’t like it. They went extinct and should remain that way.
Wait til they find some T-Rex cells and sequence the DNA and find out they were just giant chickens, feathers and all...: )
When you mix a hooker with an elephant you gat a 1/2 ton pickup.
Like injecting RWR’s DNA into today’s GOPe leadership?
This is one of those things where just because you can...should you?
PETA is panicking now...
I want to see a Wooly Mammoth grazing in the Russia Stepps - before I die -
Dibs on the wish bone
They must not believe in global warming.
But if they went extinct because they were delicious...
Gee, what could go wrong?
Hmmm. I wonder if there would be a market for mamoth sweaters...
"Ceterum censeo 0bama esse delendam."
'La bonne cuisine est la base du véritable bonheur.' - Auguste Escoffier
(Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness.)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Who knows - maybe WM fur has some properties that could advance science.
According to the Book of Enoch this is exactly the kind of stuff that was going on before the flood.
Matthew 24:37, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Didn’t they ever listen to that song by Loverboy....”A Mammoth and an Elephant’s DNA Just Won’t Splice.”
Life imitates art. “Jurassic Park” the movie becomes reality.
I wonder... if they have functioning skin cells... and access to some elephant stem cells... could they (with today’s technology)? Would they?
And while we’re at it, are any of the Neanderthal fossil materials in good enough shape for DNA extraction?
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