Hopping back to the gene pool
3 Apr 2013 by Evoluted New Media
Scientists have revitalised the genome of an extinct Australian frog using sophisticated cloning technology.
Using somatic nuclear transfer, the Lazarus Project team is closer than ever to bringing the Rheobatrachus silus frog back to life.
“We are watching Lazarus arise from the dead, step by exciting step. We’ve reactivated dead cells into living ones and revived the extinct frog’s genome in the process,” said team leader Professor Mike Archer from the University of New South Wales.
Rheobatrachus silus was a gastric-brooding frog which uniquely swallowed its eggs, brooded its young in its stomach and gave birth through its mouth. The species became extinct in 1983.
In repeated experiments over five years, the group used cell nuclei from tissues collected in the 1970s and kept in a conventional deep freezer for 40 years. Taking fresh donor eggs from the distantly related Great Barred Frog, Mixophyes fasciolatus, the team removed the egg nuclei and replaced them with dead nuclei from the extinct frog.
Some of the eggs began to spontaneously divide and grow to early embryo stage. Unfortunately none of the embryos survived more than a few days but genetic tests confirmed that the dividing cells did contain the genetic material from the extinct frog.
“We’re increasingly confident that the hurdles ahead are technological and not biological and that we will succeed. Importantly, we’ve demonstrated already the great promise this technology has as a conservation tool when hundreds of the world’s amphibians are in catastrophic decline,” said Archer.
The results of the work are yet to be published but were spoken about at the TEDx DeExtinction event in Washington DC on March 15th, where researchers gathered to discuss plans and progress to ‘de-extinct’ other extinct animals and plants.
