do you think we could replicate the dna of extinct species and clone one?

[the grim intellect]

there is always scifi talk about cloning an extinct animal but do you think it could really be done?

[Sicilianu101]

Not yet. Although we can extract ancient DNA and sequence it, it has already gone through enough damage that you cannot clone the animal.

[Sicilianu101]

In the current animal cloning protocol, the entire intact nucleus of a living cell is transferred to an egg cell in which the nucleus has been removed.

[Sicilianu101]

Of course, in dead cells, the nucleus degrades and the remaining DNA even if it remains intact is not able to be transferred to an egg cell (because the nucleus has been destroyed).

[Sicilianu101]

One might hypothetically though at present time be able to take ancient DNA if intact enough & amplify sequence for insertion into another Organism's DNA, but this would result only in the insertion of individual genes from the ancient organism within the framework of the modern animal's DNA.

[dogwolf]

Fascinating question, one that I can't answer with any authority. I do know that there's a Japanese scientist who's quite sure he could produce a living Wooly Mammoth from recovered mammoth DNA in something like 7 generations (each generation part mammoth, part elephant, with the final offspring being 100% mammoth) with the help of a female African Elephant - the Wooly Mammoth's closest living relative. I promise I'm not pulling your leg, it was on the Discovery Channel:)

[Frederick]

One of those guys who specialiced into Native Northern American Indians DNA claimed, we dont even have enough DNA parts to combine all of them into ONE full blooded Native Northern American atm. LOL (tested ones, so far)

At least thats what he claimed.

All "natives" who did a DNA test showed heavy European admixture.
I think he claimed the "most native" Nothern American who tested his DNA so far, was a "chieftain" (! Ha ha) somewhere, who had like 30% "Native" and 70% European blood.

Well, whatever. Reading that .... brought to my mind: We seem to not be able to artificial reproduce a native northern American, something that did exist only 150 years ago. How could we dream to reconstruct something that does not exist for thousands or millions of years? :(

[Comte Arnau]

I'm pretty convinced we will be able to, although not right now. Maybe next decade or the other.

The Pyrenean Ibex lived in the Pyrenees until the year 2000, when Celia, the last female Pyrenean ibex, was killed by a falling tree. These below are some excerpts from Wikipedia. Looks like all attempts so far have been unsuccessful, living only for a short while.



The Pyrenean Ibex became the first taxon ever to become "un-extinct" when, for a period of seven minutes in January 2009, a cloned female Ibex was born alive before dying from breathing difficulties.

Cloning Project

The biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. announced on October 8, 2000 that the Spanish government has agreed to their offer to use nuclear transfer cloning technology in collaboration with other scientific partners to clone the Pyrenean ibex from the tissue that was taken in 1999. It was expected to be easier than the cloning experiment of endangered gaur (Bos gaurus), as the reproductive biology of goats is better known and the normal gestation period is only five months. ATC has agreed with the government of Aragon that the future cloned Pyrenean Ibexes will be returned to their original habitat.

The project could be of useful conservation value only if multiple goats could be cloned to form a viable gene pool. As it is, cloning one goat will not save the subspecies.

Celia was able to provide perfect tissue samples for cloning. However, attempts to clone Celia have highlighted a major problem: even if it were possible to produce another healthy Pyrenean Ibex, there are no males for the female clone to breed with. One solution could be to cross Celia's clones with males of another subspecies, although the offspring would not be pure Pyrenean Ibex. A more ambitious plan would be to remove one X chromosome and add a Y chromosome from another still-existing subspecies, creating a male Pyrenean Ibex, but such technology does not yet exist and it is not known whether this will be feasible at all without irreparably damaging the cell.

Three teams of scientists, two Spanish and one French, are involved in the cloning project. The project is coordinated by the Food and Agricultural Investigation Service of the Government of Aragon (Spanish: Servicio de Investigación Agroalimentaria del Gobierno de Aragón) and by the National Institute of Investigation and Food and Agrarian Technology (Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria). The National Institute of Agrarian Investigation of France is also involved in the project.

First attempt fails

Researchers took adult Somatic cell from the tissue and fused them with oocytes from goats that had their nucleus removed. The resultant embryos were transferred into a domestic goat (Capra hircus), to act as a surrogate mother. In 2003, it was announced that the first attempt to clone the Pyrenean Ibex failed. Of the 285 embryos reconstructed, 54 were transferred to 12 mountain goat and mountain goat-domesticated goat hybrids, but only two survived the initial two months of gestation before they too died.

Later attempt

In 2009, one clone was born alive, but died seven minutes later, due to physical defects in the lungs.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Pyreneanibex.gif


If it's already hard with an animal that has become extinct so recently, go figure with a mammoth.