Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: H James Morris who wrote (102818)	5/5/2000 5:05:00 AM
From: allen menglin chen	Respond to of 164684

Get a life, scientists tell extinct tiger Dr Colgan and the tiger pup ... opportunity to question whether extinction is forever. Photo by RICK STEVENS smh.com.au By JAMES WOODFORD, Science Writer DNA has been extracted from a Tasmanian tiger pup bottled in alcohol 134 years ago, allowing scientists to embark on an $80 million project to bring the extinct marsupial predators back to life. A team of scientists led by the Australian Museum's head of evolutionary biology, Dr Don Colgan, said yesterday that enough DNA had been obtained from the specimen to move to the second stage of the cloning process, synthesising entire chromosomes. Efforts are now under way to determine how many other alcohol-preserved thylacines there are in institutions around the world so as much genetic variability as possible can be obtained for a potential colony of the animals. Despite its immaturity when killed, the bottled tiger pup had fur and signs of the development of its distinctive stripes. It was probably just beginning to move around independently inside the mother's den. During a half-hour operation last month, bone marrow, heart, liver and muscle tissue was obtained from the Tasmanian tiger, which has been valued at more than $1.5 million for insurance purposes. Even though the surgery resulted in the extraction of a mere millionth of a gram of genetic material, this is more than enough to begin multiplying DNA in bacteria and to attempt to synthesise artificial chromosomes. "The DNA we have extracted is of high quality," Dr Colgan said. "The preparation has enough DNA for us to be confident it contains multiple copies of nearly every Tasmanian tiger gene." This breakthrough puts Australia at the forefront of the effort to be the first to reverse an extinction. However, Dr Colgan, still gives the project only an 8 to 10 per cent chance of succeeding. Until now plans to bring the Tasmanian tiger back to life, announced last year by Professor Mike Archer, director of the Australian Museum, have been ridiculed as unachievable because of claims that the animal's DNA was unusable. Professor Archer said Australians had a moral obligation to try to bring the species back because it was early European settlers who directly caused their extinction. "It's an opportunity to question whether extinction really is forever." The last known Tasmanian tiger died in Hobart Zoo in 1936 but in 1866 a pouch-young pup was collected and preserved in alcohol, which does not destroy DNA. However, the project will take many years because no-one has yet managed to clone an animal from "dead" DNA, nor has anyone managed to clone a marsupial. Another hurdle is the issue of which animal will be chosen to carry the thylacine embryo. Suggestions have included its close relatives Tasmanian devils, quolls or numbats. Another issue is where such animals would be kept. Dr Archer has suggested they could be released onto islands away from dingoes, the animals thought to have been the reason for their extinction on the mainland. Another suggesting he has made is the possibility of using genetic technology to make the cloned Tasmanian tiger bigger and thus more competitive.