The novelist Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, died a few days before the news. It would surely have appreciated.
Some Russian and American scientists have managed to rebuild over 80% of the genetic code of the mammoth, from hair taken from carcasses in Siberia.
According to Nature magazine, which publishes research, we approached the day when we can to revive a mammoth, using an elephant as a surrogate mother.
This is the first time we managed to reconstruct the DNA of an animal disappeared. The last mammoths are extinct in an island off the coast of Sibérie 3700 years ago. Those who were taken from the DNA died there 20 000 years.
Scientists have found that mammoths and elephants are more modern relatives than are humans and chimpanzees. They share 99.4% of their genetic code. Their lines would separate there are 1.5 to 2 million years. "To get the complete genome of the mammoth and faithful, it must wait until the genome of the elephant is sequenced, scientists say.
In the same issue of Nature, an article entitled "Let's Make a Mammoth" traces the long (very long) road ahead before re-create the pachyderm.
It should first obtain a genome fairly clean, free of contamination that occurs on dead tissue. Indeed, bacteria and fungi have invaded the cells of mammoths and their genetic material was mixed with that of the animal death.
We need to eliminate the mistakes that caused the contamination. This requires reaching an accuracy of 15 to 50 times greater than what has been achieved this time. Nature believes it is "likely" to happen.
Then, scientists will have to find how the gene sequence is divided into the chromosomes. And why should have chromosomes intact mammoth, what did not. "We do not even know yet how chromosomes had mammoths," said Hendrick Poinar, a geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario.
Even if we managed to clone mice from chromosomes which have been frozen for 16 years at least 20 degrees in a freezer sterilized, it is far from the situation of mammoths: 20 000 years in the soil more or less frozen in temperatures do not necessarily microbial activity.
Once reconstructed the genetic code, it must be synthesized. And again it will take giant steps. The longest successful synthesis to date is that of the genetic code of bacteria which had 582 970 "letters". The mammoth count in 8000 times. The possibilities for error are increased accordingly.
Once the synthetic chromosomes obtained, it must be inserted into the nucleus of a cell. But it has not yet been successful in the case of mammals.
It will remain an obstacle anyway: get the egg of a female elephant. And Nature teaches us that it is more difficult than expected. The only possible way now is to collect the eggs of a dead elephant.
With all these risks of error, we would not resurrect the species. The mammoth artificial would be just good enough to show how curiosity in a fair, says Nature. "It's more than I can imagine see in my lifetime," said Svante Pääbo, 53, of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany.
Some Russian and American scientists have managed to rebuild over 80% of the genetic code of the mammoth, from hair taken from carcasses in Siberia.
According to Nature magazine, which publishes research, we approached the day when we can to revive a mammoth, using an elephant as a surrogate mother.
This is the first time we managed to reconstruct the DNA of an animal disappeared. The last mammoths are extinct in an island off the coast of Sibérie 3700 years ago. Those who were taken from the DNA died there 20 000 years.
Scientists have found that mammoths and elephants are more modern relatives than are humans and chimpanzees. They share 99.4% of their genetic code. Their lines would separate there are 1.5 to 2 million years. "To get the complete genome of the mammoth and faithful, it must wait until the genome of the elephant is sequenced, scientists say.
In the same issue of Nature, an article entitled "Let's Make a Mammoth" traces the long (very long) road ahead before re-create the pachyderm.
It should first obtain a genome fairly clean, free of contamination that occurs on dead tissue. Indeed, bacteria and fungi have invaded the cells of mammoths and their genetic material was mixed with that of the animal death.
We need to eliminate the mistakes that caused the contamination. This requires reaching an accuracy of 15 to 50 times greater than what has been achieved this time. Nature believes it is "likely" to happen.
Then, scientists will have to find how the gene sequence is divided into the chromosomes. And why should have chromosomes intact mammoth, what did not. "We do not even know yet how chromosomes had mammoths," said Hendrick Poinar, a geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario.
Even if we managed to clone mice from chromosomes which have been frozen for 16 years at least 20 degrees in a freezer sterilized, it is far from the situation of mammoths: 20 000 years in the soil more or less frozen in temperatures do not necessarily microbial activity.
Once reconstructed the genetic code, it must be synthesized. And again it will take giant steps. The longest successful synthesis to date is that of the genetic code of bacteria which had 582 970 "letters". The mammoth count in 8000 times. The possibilities for error are increased accordingly.
Once the synthetic chromosomes obtained, it must be inserted into the nucleus of a cell. But it has not yet been successful in the case of mammals.
It will remain an obstacle anyway: get the egg of a female elephant. And Nature teaches us that it is more difficult than expected. The only possible way now is to collect the eggs of a dead elephant.
With all these risks of error, we would not resurrect the species. The mammoth artificial would be just good enough to show how curiosity in a fair, says Nature. "It's more than I can imagine see in my lifetime," said Svante Pääbo, 53, of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany.
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