Scientists map mammoth DNA
WASHINGTON - Scientists have deciphered much of the genetic code of the woolly mammoth, a feat they say could allow them to re-create the shaggy, prehistoric beast in as little as a decade or two.
The project marks the first time researchers have spelled out the DNA of an extinct species, and it raises the possibility of other ancient animals such as mastodons and saber-toothed cats again walking the Earth.
"Just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?" asked Stephan Schuster, a Penn State University biochemist and study co-author.
The million-dollar research resulted in a first draft of a mammoth's genome, detailing the ice-age creature's 3 billion DNA building blocks. The research published in today's issue of the journal Nature also gives scientists new clues about evolution and extinction.
"This is an amazing achievement," said Alex Greenwood, an Old Dominion University biology professor who studies ancient DNA.
Full-size mammoths, 8 to 14 feet tall like elephants, became extinct about 10,000 years ago.
To obtain the DNA, scientists relied on 20 balls of mammoth hair found frozen in the Siberian permafrost. That technique - along with major improvements in genome sequencing and the field of synthetic biology - is helping biologists envision a science-fiction future.
The new study, called 80 percent complete, provides a letter-by-letter genetic code mapping out most of the mammoth's DNA. Think of it as an instruction sheet about how to build a mammoth.
Schuster said researchers someday should be able to re-create any extinct creature that lived within the past 100,000 years as long as it got trapped in permafrost and it had hair.
Hendrik Poinar, anthropology professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said that he no longer considers such ideas impossible. Poinar, who consulted on the movie Jurassic Park, said that director Steven Spielberg may have had it right when he told skeptical scientists: "This is the science of eventuality."
WASHINGTON - Scientists have deciphered much of the genetic code of the woolly mammoth, a feat they say could allow them to re-create the shaggy, prehistoric beast in as little as a decade or two.
The project marks the first time researchers have spelled out the DNA of an extinct species, and it raises the possibility of other ancient animals such as mastodons and saber-toothed cats again walking the Earth.
"Just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?" asked Stephan Schuster, a Penn State University biochemist and study co-author.
The million-dollar research resulted in a first draft of a mammoth's genome, detailing the ice-age creature's 3 billion DNA building blocks. The research published in today's issue of the journal Nature also gives scientists new clues about evolution and extinction.
"This is an amazing achievement," said Alex Greenwood, an Old Dominion University biology professor who studies ancient DNA.
Full-size mammoths, 8 to 14 feet tall like elephants, became extinct about 10,000 years ago.
To obtain the DNA, scientists relied on 20 balls of mammoth hair found frozen in the Siberian permafrost. That technique - along with major improvements in genome sequencing and the field of synthetic biology - is helping biologists envision a science-fiction future.
The new study, called 80 percent complete, provides a letter-by-letter genetic code mapping out most of the mammoth's DNA. Think of it as an instruction sheet about how to build a mammoth.
Schuster said researchers someday should be able to re-create any extinct creature that lived within the past 100,000 years as long as it got trapped in permafrost and it had hair.
Hendrik Poinar, anthropology professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said that he no longer considers such ideas impossible. Poinar, who consulted on the movie Jurassic Park, said that director Steven Spielberg may have had it right when he told skeptical scientists: "This is the science of eventuality."
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