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Pleistocene Park?
They've sequenced the genome of a woolly mammoth. I think we're going to see one walking around in a few years.
Posted by Rand Simberg at December 23, 2005 07:03 AM
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I want a sabertooth cat!
Posted by Andrea Harris at December 23, 2005 07:21 AM
Forget woolly mammoths. I want big critters! Clone a Columbian Mammoth!
Posted by Kevin Adams at December 23, 2005 07:56 AM
Well, at least some of the protohominids walking among us will have some familiar company...
Posted by Phil Smith at December 23, 2005 08:03 AM
Note that the press releases says "a portion of the woolly mammoth's genome" and "At this rate, it will take a year to map the entire genome"
Since no intact mammoth nuclei are available they won't be cloning them any time soon. It is somewhat unlikely that any cells could last that long and be viable. But DNA fragments can be found and put (more or less) in the right linear sequence.
You see, just because you know their genomic sequence doesn't mean you know how to package it (the DNA) into functional chromosomes ... that is still Star Trek technology.
Posted by Keith Cowing at December 23, 2005 08:26 AM
Spare no expense, that's the answer!!!!
Posted by Steve at December 23, 2005 08:56 AM
If I understand correctly, they've sequenced the mitochondrial DNA. This is a far cry from sequencing the entire genome, most of which is in the cell nucleus.
Posted by Paul Dietz at December 23, 2005 09:45 AM
I would think the way to clone a Mammoth would be to splice just the differing segments into say the egg of an Asian Elephant.
Posted by Mike Puckett at December 23, 2005 10:04 AM
But then, Mike, it wouldn't have mammothh mitochrondria, but elephant mitochrondria.
Assume that for some reason the full mammoth genome couldn't be reconstructed. What percentage of it would you be willing to allow bioengineers to take from an African elephant and still let them say, "Close enough; we're calling it a 'mammoth clone' anyway"?
Posted by John "Akatsukami" Braue at December 23, 2005 12:13 PM
If I understand correctly, they've sequenced the mitochondrial DNA. This is a far cry from sequencing the entire genome, most of which is in the cell nucleus.
The article states that this study is the nucleus, not just the mitochondria
Posted by Mac at December 23, 2005 02:06 PM
Oops. I was confusing this with a previous result.
Posted by Paul Dietz at December 23, 2005 04:24 PM
Just how many genes differ between the Asian Elephant and the Mastodon?
You can always continue to tweak the breed each generation untill you get a pure Mastodon.
Posted by Mike Puckett at December 23, 2005 05:53 PM
Another reason to proceed with this project is that it will give us something to feed the aliens.
Posted by Jay Manifold at December 24, 2005 11:40 AM
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