Jurassic Park? Mammoth fragments from Siberia may be clonable

[jobberone]

Scientists have discovered well-preserved frozen woolly mammoth fragments deep in Siberia that may contain living cells, edging a tad closer to the "Jurassic Park" possibility of cloning a prehistoric animal, the mission's organizer said Tuesday.


Russia's North-Eastern Federal University said an international team of researchers had discovered mammoth hair, soft tissues and bone marrow some 328 feet (100 meters) underground during a summer expedition in the northeastern province of Yakutia.


Expedition chief Semyon Grigoryev said Korean scientists with the team had set a goal of finding living cells in the hope of cloning a mammoth. Scientists have previously found bones and fragments but not living cells.
Grigoryev told the online newspaper Vzglyad it would take months of research to determine whether they have indeed found the cells.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/...#ixzz26UoIAwad

[dexternjack]

That would be awesome!

But if I remember correctly from genetics, the proper proteins would be needed also for a 100% pure mammoth, so scientists would have to add foreign DNA to do this.

Of course that was awhile ago, things may have changed. I know DNA codes for proteins but not all of them.

[SaltwaterServr]

Originally Posted by dexternjack

That would be awesome!

But if I remember correctly from genetics, the proper proteins would be needed also for a 100% pure mammoth, so scientists would have to add foreign DNA to do this.

Of course that was awhile ago, things may have changed. I know DNA codes for proteins but not all of them.

Pretty impressive considering there are 1 million plus proteins out there.

[jobberone]

Part of the problem will likely be an incomplete genome. Recent studies have shown that what was thought to be large areas of the human genome were not in fact inert and nonsense but huge areas for the regulation of genes. There are also areas which have been turned off for a very long time which could be regressive if turned on. You can cause a chicken to grow teeth and a more dinosaurian tail by turning on long repressed genes.

There's just a lot we don't know. If you had a complete mammoth genome then you can inject a live cell with the complete genome into an elephant egg (Asian) which has had its nuclear material removed. I've forgotten how to get the egg to take off and implant yada but its possible. They could also use gametes from a mammoth and fertilize an Asian elephant egg and create a hybrid which could be cross fertilized with more mammoth DNA and so on until you get a 15/16s mammoth which is essentially a true mammoth.

Would love to see that.

[trickblue]

Originally Posted by dexternjack

That would be awesome!

But if I remember correctly from genetics, the proper proteins would be needed also for a 100% pure mammoth, so scientists would have to add foreign DNA to do this.

Of course that was awhile ago, things may have changed. I know DNA codes for proteins but not all of them.

Hope they don't use frog DNA... I think we all saw how that went...

[Sam I Am]

Originally Posted by trickblue

Hope they don't use frog DNA... I think we all saw how that went...

Let's not talk about Fly DNA either!

I will go balistic if they try to use stem cells to create a specific DNA match too!

[trickblue]

Originally Posted by Sam I Am

Let's not talk about Fly DNA either!

I will go balistic if they try to use stem cells to create a specific DNA match too!

A Woolly Mammoth Fly would be terrifying... think Dumbo on steroids with an attitude...

[Hoofbite]

Be pretty awesome.