Tasmanian tiger DNA comes alive in mouse

[Duke]

Circulating the news atm. Seems the poor Tasmanian Devil is going on the Endangered List this week, but hopefully it won't get to the same stage as the poor Tasmanian Tiger, who's hopes lie in the hands of a group of Melbourne scientists.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/20/2249778.htm

A University of Melbourne team has broken new ground, extracting genes from the extinct tasmanian tiger and bringing them back to life in another living creature.


The team put the thylacine DNA into a mouse embryo in what the university's Dr Andrew Pask says is the first time DNA from an extinct species has been used "to induce a functional response in another living organism."


The thylacine DNA reproduced in the mouse's body and showed biological function, reviving hopes that the tiger may one day be successfully cloned.


The findings will be published in an international scientific journal tomorrow.


They show that one of the thylacine genes is similar to the mouse gene that develops cartilage and bone.


Professor Marilyn Renfree, who was also involved in the research, said the discovery was critical.


"For those species that have already become extinct, our method shows that access to their genetic biodiversity may not be completely lost," she said.


However she said cloning a tasmanian tiger was still a long way off.


Dean of Science at the University of New South Wales, Mike Archer, led a project to revive the extinct animals through recovered DNA.


Professor Archer has told ABC Local Radio he believes that aim may now be within reach.


"The next question then is, well what if you did that with the whole of the DNA of the thylacine?" he said.


"Could you in fact bring back a thylacine? Technically I think this is pretty difficult at the moment but on the other hand this is one very significant step in that direction and I'm delighted."


Professor Archer is hopeful the thylacine can be brought back in his lifetime.


"I'm personally convinced this is going to happen. We are working on a number of projects like this. I've got another group working on another extinct Australian animal and we think this is highly probable," he said.


The last tasmanian tiger died in the Hobart Zoo in 1936.

 

[Noongato]

I think the Thylacine thing will work but the animals will be only in zoos etc. As australia has sortof healed itself with the dingo becoming the main predator now. What would happen to the economy if the Thylacine was thrown back in the mix.
I hope im still alive by the time it happens just to know.

 

[Hetty]

I read something about this a while ago in Dawkins "The Ancestors Tale". Dawkins was saying that extracting DNA (for cloning) from extinct species was pretty much impossible because the DNA doesn't survive more than a few years, even with deep freezing in the case of mammoths.

 

[Duke]

:Thumbsup: This is a great time in science history to be living in

 

[Sdaji]

I think the Thylacine thing will work but the animals will be only in zoos etc. As australia has sortof healed itself with the dingo becoming the main predator now. What would happen to the economy if the Thylacine was thrown back in the mix.
I hope im still alive by the time it happens just to know.

Dingoes wiped out Thylacines on the mainland thousands of years ago, but they existed in Tasmania until fairly recently (where there are no Dingoes and never were). Contrary to popular belief, Thylacines on Tasmania were wiped out by disease, not hunting or anything else.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

This blurb is from tassies department of primary industries website, for what it's worth...
.
Sdaji, 1000s of tassie tigers were killed, maybe even 10s of 1000s, by hunters.

Personally id be more inclined to think the
wholesale hunting and the bounties were the main cause of the extinction of these animals..

I havnt heard of the diseases they had
that may have wiped out the population but would be interested in reading more.

Got a link?

Surely it wouldnt be the same thing that is killing the devils??
Are the carnivorous marsupials more easily affected by disease
than the herbivorous ones?

Are they all destined to disappear?


Why are they extinct?

The arrival of European settlers marked the start of a tragic period of conflict that led to the thylacine's extinction. The introduction of sheep in 1824 led to conflict between the settlers and thylacines.

• 1830 Van Diemens Land Co. introduced a thylacine bounties.
• 1888 Tasmanian Parliament placed a price of £1 on thylacine's head.
• 1909 Government bounty scheme terminated. 2184 bounties paid.
• 1910 Thylacines rare -- sought by zoos around the world.
• 1926 London Zoo bought its last thylacine for £150.
• 1933 Last thylacine captured, Florentine Valley, sold Hobart Zoo.
• 1936 World's last captive thylacine died in Hobart Zoo, ( 07/09/1936).
• 1936 Tasmanian tiger added to the list of protected Wildlife.
• 1986 Thylacine declared extinct by international standards.

 

[jack]

wiped out by disease? I know there is theorised to be a pathogen that had a hand in mainland extinctions of small marsupials (post white fella) but haven't heard of it for the thylacine...
got references for your statement sdaji?

 

[jack]

ok, you're off the hook sdaji, i did a google and there is plenty of info on disease helping the extinction... including a book on my own shelf!
I do believe your choice of words was innapropriate, as it reads to me as though you are letting us humans off the charge of murder...

 

[expansa1]

Dingoes wiped out Thylacines on the mainland thousands of years ago, but they existed in Tasmania until fairly recently (where there are no Dingoes and never were). Contrary to popular belief, Thylacines on Tasmania were wiped out by disease, not hunting or anything else.

Hi Sdaji, what scientific documentation are you getting this from as I would be interested in seeing it?

From all of the literature I have read the information all points towards greedy humans hunting them to extinction for the bounty on them and to protect sheep.

 

[waruikazi]

So they have only revived a small part of the thylacine DNA not the whole lot yeah?

 

[Reptile_Boy]

gets the pop corn.


hmm desiese or killing???





i think killing by the brits

 

[jack]

only one gene... which had to be put together from a number of preserved animals

 

[Dipcdame]

NO NO NO NO NO!!!! I know I'll get lambasted here for this, but PLEEEASE, NO! It has always been my observation that if you mess with nature, she'll bounce right back and bite you in the bum............... HARD! Sorry to put it in such simplistic terms, but it's SO WRONG. Leave her be, if we couldn't do anything for them then, then we should leave well enough alone now. Perhaps we should be focusing on helping the Tasmanian Devil, and help stop it's extinction.

I'm not saying it would'nt be lovely to see them about again, but the gap they left has now closed up, it could create havoc on the existing environment.

 

[Trouble]

Thats tru Dipcdame

Lets save the endangered, not the extinct.... kill off the ferals that are making our natural wildlife endangered/extinct!
I don't think DNA will work properly in the 1st place anyway, there is no 100% garentee in it, so why risk anything?

 

[-Peter]

The pathogen theories has currency so dont discount it to quickly.


http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s272905.htm

 

[alex_c]

remember bleeding hearts will always blame humans because it is the easier option. yes humans probably played a part in this animals demise but it wont be as big a part as it is made out to be.

 

[Retic]

Disease may well have finished them off but the arrival of EUROPEANS started the decline and local farmers carried it on.

 

[Sdaji]

:lol:

There are still plenty of areas in Tasmania which are too remote for humans to be able to access in any significant way. If the Thylacines were still alive and well now, we still wouldn't be able to wipe them out by hunting them with guns, even if we actually wanted to fully exterminate them. Back then they had even less capability of doing so. It always amuses me when people on APS demand evidence and references to links :lol: This is just a reptile chat forum, remember? :lol: Use a tiny bit of common sense, put two and two together and if you still aren't convinced that they were wiped out by disease, well, I suppose you can run off and believe whatever makes you happy Have fun Alternatively, if you actually are interested enough, do some of your own research. The only reason there is still any credibility to the ridiculous notion that people manually wiped them out is that many humans desperately want to believe that their own species is evil (a curious phenomenon). That feeling is demonstrated well all over the place, including in this thread. I really don't care about whether it was disease or hunting, the evidence is just so incredibly clear. Yes, many were killed, but so what? If someone released a disease which wiped out the Cane Toads, would you say "Well, that might have done it, but it was mainly due to the millions upon millions which were killed on the roads"? Hmm... sadly, some people actually would think that. Oh well.

If it makes the bleeding hearts who are set on persecuting their own species and happier, humans almost certainly did introduce the disease, quite likely it was carried on the animals people brought in. No, it's probably not the same thing as the one which is killing the devils, certainly not the same strain.

Have fun arguing if you like, this is one of those cases of something being so obvious it is stupid to discuss at any length, and I can't see it being fun, so I'll leave the thread now. Enjoy it if you choose to stay

 

[Retic]

Yes I agree, like I said it seems to have been a combination of the 2 factors.

 

[jack]

i suppose it was disease that "wiped out" the indigenous tasmanians as well...



technically yes, but guns held by those instigating a coordinated slaughter might have had something to do with it....