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- The team was successful in inducing nuclei-like structures to perform certain biological processes, but not cell division.
- Unless better technologies and DNA samples emerge in the future, scientists are unlikely to be able to clone a woolly mammoth.
- Nevertheless, studying Woolly Mammoth DNA provides valuable information on the genetic adaptations that allowed them to survive in unique environments.
A team of Japanese and Russian scientists has managed to "wake up" the cells of a woolly mammoth 28,000 years old, according to a study released Monday to Scientific reports.
The cells came from an extraordinarily well-preserved woolly mammoth discovered in the Siberian permafrost in 2012 and nicknamed "Yuka". Using a process called nuclear transfer, the scientists took Yuka-type structures and implanted them into mouse oocytes, highly specialized cells that facilitate embryonic development. The scientists then used a live cell imaging technique to observe the reaction of the structures in their new environment. They saw traces of biological activity.
"I was looking at the microscope at night while I was alone in the lab," said Akira Iritani, co-author of the new study, 90, who has been working for years to resuscitate the woolly mammoth. CNN. "I was so moved when I saw the cells shake, I had been hoping for 20 years."
Nevertheless, this cellular activity was not significant enough to suggest that it would soon be possible to clone woolly mammoths, which have disappeared for about 4,000 years. For example, scientists could not stimulate cell division in mammoth cells, but managed to induce an activity that precedes it, for example by forcing mammoth nuclei to perform a process called "spindle assembly", in which the chromosomes are related to the structures of the spindle. before a parent cell splits into two daughter cells.
Another hurdle is the quality of the DNA samples. Even though Yuka was in a relatively good state, he was still seriously damaged. It seems that a significantly improved technology will be needed if scientists plan to clone a woolly mammoth or create a hybrid elephant – mammoth – a more realistic possibility.
The study marks a "milestone in the return of mammoths from the dead," researcher Kei Miyamoto, one of the study's authors, said in Japan. Nikkei news release.
"We want to advance our study at the cell division stage," he said, adding that "we still have a long way to go."
But that does not mean that searches like this are useless. For example, some scientists hope to learn about the genetic adaptations of woolly mammoths that have allowed them to survive in such cold conditions. The hope is that researchers will one day use gene editing technologies such as CRISPR to allow modern elephants to survive in the "mammoth steppe", a huge band of cold, dry lands that are s & # 39; They extend to the northern regions of the globe where mammoths roamed. The introduction of elephants in these areas could actually help curb the climate.
Photo credit: NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP / Getty Images
"Elephants who lived in the past – and maybe even in the future – felled trees and let cold air hit the ground and keep it cold in the winter. Grass to grow and reflect the sun in summer, "George Church, a Harvard and MIT geneticist, said Science live at the Liberty Science Center 2018 Engineering Gala. "Those two [factors] combined could result in huge soil cooling and a rich ecosystem. "
But for some scientists, striving to resuscitate – or at least preserve – the woolly mammoth is more of a philosophical quest.
"It's because of people that some animals have disappeared," said Iritani CNN. "It's my duty to preserve the species."
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