‘Resurrected’ Mammoth DNA placed on human cells

One of the mammoths lived about 20.000 years ago and while the other lived about 60.000 years ago.

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Eventually we’ll be technically able to do it.

But the question is: if you’re technically able to do something, should you do it?” he said.

The scientists did some lab experiments to see if the mammoth-specific genetic change actually did anything potentially meaningful. [How to Bring the Woolly Mammoth Back (Infographic)]. In other words, mammoths’ unique TRPV3 gene may have contributed to their cold tolerance.

“I’ve been trying for a long time to show that ancient genomes can be sequenced as accurately as extant genomes, and the woolly mammoth seemed like an ideal species for demonstrating this capability”. Mainly, the variants were responsible for producing changes in the proteins produced by 1,600 different genes.

The scientists got some of their DNA from mammoth fur they bought on eBay for around $100, recalls Webb Miller of Pennsylvania State University.

Researchers studied the structure of DNA from mammoths preserved in the Arctic to reproduce exact copies of 14 of the extinct animal’s genes.

Researchers looking at the genome of the woolly mammoth have found how the creatures evolved to survive the freezing temperatures of the ice age.

According to geneticist Vincent Lynch of the University of Chicago, this new study is the most comprehensive one that investigates the genetic changes of how the woolly mammoth came to be.

Genes with mammoth-specific changes were most strongly linked to fat metabolism including brown fat regulation, insulin signalling, skin and hair development including ones associated with lighter hair colour, temperature sensation and circadian clock biology. When this gene was transplanted into human cells, it produced a protein less responsive to heat than the elephant versions, which indicates this gene is what made mammoths less sensitive to cold.

Mice who don’t have an active TRPV3 gene prefer cold temperatures, and have wavy hair and changes in their fat biology, Lynch said.

Lynch and some of his colleagues recently compared the DNA of woolly mammoths to the DNA of the modern Asian elephant, which dwells in warm tropical forests and is their closest living relative. All these factors being considered, may have helped the mammoths adapt to the Arctic.

If scientists will ever create a woolly mammoth it will not be a 100 percent clone of the original but rather a cold resistant version somewhere in between an Asian elephant and a mammoth.

Lynch said there was no way to be fully sure without somehow getting access to an entire mammoth to test it out, a project he was not interested in pursuing. Church’s team is gearing up to use a gene splicing tool, called CRISPR, to combine a small number of mammoth and elephant genes.