Researchers from Harvard inserted the discovered genes of mammoths that died out several millennia ago into the DNA of elephants and obtained living cells of prehistoric animals.
According to the Daily Mail, thanks to a new technique known as CRISP, which allows DNA changes to be made, geneticist George Church was able to insert mammoth genes into elephant DNA.
“The genes that are responsible for frost resistance have become priority for us, namely, the coat of the body, the size of the ears, subcutaneous fat and especially the level of hemoglobin,” the geneticist said.
As a result, a group of scientists managed to obtain living mammoth cells. However, not everyone in academia is delighted with Church's success.
“It would be better to send money to something more worthwhile than to spend it on an animal that became extinct thousands of years ago,” said geneticist Professor Alex Griewood.
The issue of cloning a mammoth has long agitated the scientific world. Recall that in May 2013 in Yakutia, for the first time in 112 years, the remains of a mammoth with liquid blood were discovered. The body of the deceased female mammoth was partially submerged in the lake, which apparently froze rather quickly. Due to this, the lower limbs and belly of the animal were preserved in very good condition. The researchers hope that after studying the blood of the ancient animal, it will be possible to try to clone the mammoth.
In the Yakut research on the cloning of a mammoth found in the region, scientists from Russia were joined by specialists from five countries: Denmark, Great Britain, the USA, Korea and Moldova.
The author of the latest cloning initiative is Japanese scientist Teruhiko Wakayama, who plans to restore an entire organism from cells frozen in permafrost. The technique consists in transferring the genetic material of the mammoth into the egg of an African or Indian elephant, because the DNA of an elephant and a mammoth has only minor differences.
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The discovery of Russian scientists may finally allow isolating the genome of a species that became extinct about 10 thousand years ago.