Scientists Take DNA Sample From Woolly Mammoth Leg for Cloning Project

[Jesse]

Source: NBC News

A group of Russian and South Korean researchers has begun their attempt to clone a woolly mammoth, starting by extracting DNA from a spectacularly well-preserved specimen discovered in the Siberian permafrot in 2013. The project is led by Hwang Woo-Suk, a Korean cloning scientist who was the focus of a scandal in 2006 involving fraudulent research on human stem cells. Hwang has had success with animals, however, reportedly creating the world's first cloned dog and several cloned coyotes.

The research team, from the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation and Russia's North-Eastern Federal University, began this week to extract DNA from the leg of the long-frozen animal. The news was reported by the university and the Siberian Times.

"We take samples of bone marrow —it is one of the best materials for DNA analysis," explained Semyon Grigoriev, director of the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk, where scientists gathered this week to examine the remains. "If the samples are good then our coordinated work, I think, will allow in a year or two to decipher the world's first nuclear genome of the mammoth," he continued.

If no complete cells can be found to resuscitate, mapping the genome is a critical step in the process of cloning the long-extinct animal by creating an artificial cell nucleus. It is, however, nowhere near the end of potential difficulties for the ambitious program — the reconstructed DNA would have to be successfully transplanted in a living elephant embryo and carried to term.


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Because I always wanted to ride one.

[Sparko]

Are you pulling our leg?

[Jesse]

Are you pulling our leg?

I see what you did there.

[JonathanL]

Are you pulling our leg?

Nah, he's pulling the wool over our eyes.

[Yttrium]

We need mutant cyborg clone woolly mammoths for the next stage of military development. Sure, they'd be rubbish in the desert, but they'll be an invaluable asset in an assault against Canada. Siberia. I meant Siberia.

[Teallaura]

Carthage just wants another go at Rome...

[Raphael]

Carthage just wants another go at Rome...

except they would never get past the regulations for import of live animal now days.

[Teallaura]

except they would never get past the regulations for import of live animal now days.

No one said it was a good plan...

[rogue06]

This will indeed be a mammoth undertaking

[rogue06]

We need mutant cyborg clone woolly mammoths for the next stage of military development. Sure, they'd be rubbish in the desert, but they'll be an invaluable asset in an assault against Canada. Siberia. I meant Siberia.

Canuckista... I mean Siberia, yeah, SIBERIA, here we come!

0000000000Mam.gif
YEAH!!!

[Manwë Súlimo]

tumblr_m3bb78QZrJ1qj7g7io1_500.gif

[rogue06]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4783[/ATTACH]

*Puts nerd hat on*

Those aren't mammoths but could be related to the Gomphotherium, an extinct genus of proboscid which had four tusks (two attached to the upper jaw, two to the lower). Except that Gomphotherium's tusks were relatively straight with the lower pair being relatively shovel-shaped. They also weren't some 30 to 40' tall at the shoulder.

Of course the mammoths in my gif are at least twice their actual size. But that's what you get when rogue tech gets involved

*Removes nerd hat*

[Duragizer]

The dignified mastodon is ignored once again.