Can genetic engineering bring the extinct Tasmanian tiger back? Texas firm is trying
Scientists are trying to reverse the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger.
The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was an unusual animal. It was a dog-like mammal with a kangaroo-like pouch, rat-like tail and zebra-like stripes, photos from the Australian Museum show. A semi-nocturnal marsupial predator, it fed on small rodents, birds, and kangaroos, the museum said.
It’s also extinct — at least for now.
The last thylacine died in captivity in 1936 after European colonists aggressively hunted the animal, according to the University of Melbourne’s Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research (TIGRR) Lab.
Now, scientists at the TIGRR Lab and the Texas-based “de-extinction” company Colossal are using genetic engineering to try bringing the thylacine back to life, the firm said in an Aug. 16 news release.
The collaboration hopes to restore the thylacine back to Tasmania, improve local ecosystems, and develop valuable conservation technologies along the way.
But how would scientists bring the thylacine back to life?
The de-extinction plan has four phases, according to the TIGRR Lab:
Sequence the full DNA of the thylacine using preserved specimens and the full genome of the animal’s closest living relative, the fat-tailed dunnart, a mouse-like marsupial.
Genetically edit a stem cell with thylacine DNA and put this into a dunnart’s egg to create a thylacine embryo.
Put the thylacine embryo into a surrogate mother, isolate it at birth and raise it by hand.
Repeat this process to create a large population of thylacines that can be studied before being reintroduced into the Tasmanian wild.
The lead researcher at the TIGRR Lab told The Guardian that the first thylacine joey could be born within 10 years. Colossal’s CEO believed the breakthrough birth could come within six years, The Guardian reported.
The project is not without criticism, however.
Previously, scientists have highlighted that reintroducing a resurrected species to its modern ecosystem can have unexpected effects, according to a 2020 study in the Journal for Nature Conservation.
Other scientists have criticized the project as an “elaborate technological solution” that fails to address underlying causes of biodiversity loss, Fast Company reported.
It’s not the only de-extinction project underway. Colossal announced last year that it would work to reintroduce woolly mammoths to the Arctic tundra.
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