This actually is
huge. We can now consider that the time
gap of one million years can be thoroughly sampled unlike the present odd snap
shot protocol. It also means that species
resurrection has just become a plausible proposition. After all it has become possible to map an
entire genome and to correctly interpolate as needed to a satisfactory level of
reconstruction.
From there it
becomes the art of producing a viable egg and we are well down that road. It also means that we will have multiple
samples of any genome of interest.
Thus the
prospect of recalling all our recently extinct species stops been a pipe
dream. Once an island is cleansed of its
rat population and other foreign interlopers, repopulation becomes a
possibility. That is a worthy prospect.
Genomes of giant
Ice Age beasts reconstructed
Scientists predicting ancient humans may be next in
line to be mapped
BY BEN RILEY-SMITH, THE LONDON DAILY
TELEGRAPH NOVEMBER 12, 2013
From a tiny fossil bone found in the Yukon,
scientists have reconstructed the genome of a horse 780,000 years old - nearly
10 times older than any previous animal mapped.
Scientists have reconstructed the genomes of giant
Ice Age animals that existed about 800,000 years ago using a new technique that
could boost our understanding of ancient man. Through DNA analysis, researchers
were able to create the genome - which contains a mammal's hereditary
information - of a huge cave bear and a large horse.
The breakthrough came thanks to next-generation DNA
sequencers which can analyze tens of thousands of DNA fragments from remains
found buried in ice to reveal how they all fitted together when the animal was
alive.
Even mammals that died in moderate climates, whose
remains are less well preserved, could now have their genomes reconstructed.
Ludovic Orlando, professor of genetics at the
Natural History Museum of Denmark, led a team that managed to build the genome
of a horse which lived on the plains of Canada up to 780,000 years ago. His
group found that the predecessor to today's horses, donkeys and zebras first
walked the Earth between four and 4.5 million years ago - twice as long ago as
experts had believed.
The breakthrough raises the prospect of
reconstructing the DNA of giant beasts that roamed Earth during the Pleistocene
epoch up to 2.6 million years ago.
At that time, six-metre-long ground sloths could be
found in the Americas as well as sabre-toothed cats and threemetre-long
beavers, while in Europe and Asia, there were giant rhinoceroses, cave lions,
Irish elk and deer.
Alongside Orlando's work, a separate group of
researchers was able to reconstruct the genome of a giant bear that died in
northern Spain around 400,000 years ago.
The team overcame the fact that the remains were
found in a warmer climate, and therefore in a further state of decomposition
than frozen remains, by successfully relying on DNA produced by cellular
organelles called mitochondria.
"This shows DNA can survive for hundreds of
thousands of years outside of permafrost and opens the prospect of making more
samples from this time period accessible to genetic studies," said their
report.
The genomes reconstructed are more than 10 times
older than anything achieved in the past and are likely to prompt a wave of new
research in the field.
With academics from across the world due to meet
this week at the Royal Society in London to discuss developments in DNA
mapping, some are predicting that ancient humans will be the next to enter the
spotlight.
"Neanderthals are an obvious target because
they were our nearest relative," said Erika Hagelberg, professor of
evolutionary biology at Oslo University in Norway, who organized the Royal
Society meeting.
"There are a lot of samples so we can now start
looking at them in detail, including how their genes have been passed down to
modern humans," she added.
Some scientists are even predicting that the genome
of Homo erectus, pre-Neanderthal man, could be reconstructed.
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