reanimation of dna

[mr d]

hello

 

was wondering if any one has seen as recent news on reanimating dna in dead tissue.

no not frankenstein or jurrasic park here. the idea is this.

we have cloning basically functional enough to produce viable subjects. such as dolly the sheep. in the world there are many species that are so low in numbers they are having problems with genetic available material with in the species.

we also have museums with specimens of these animals. would it be possible to reanimate dna from these specimens, collect egg samples from living species members and clone the specimens. hence increasing the genetic pool.

don't quite see the problem many have with the cloning live specimens, since the individuals you are seeking to clone are deseased.

 

strange thoughts

 

mr d

[CharonY]

Technically this is not possible. As pointed out in a number of other similar threads the limiting factor is the quality of DNA. The specimens in museums are other stuffed or fossilized, bot of which will not yield any DNA. One needs an extremely well conserved (i.e. frozen), not to old sample to get DNA of sufficient quality.

[mr d]

hello

 

did consider the time thing. vut as many of htese animals were hunted in the last 50-150 years, might some skin or teeth still be able to yeild dna. since specimens are not thousands of years old. also some museums maintain preserved specimens,

 

mr d

[CharonY]

Nope. In order to preserve specimen all flesh is boiled away leaving only the fur and bones (otherwise they would rot away). Alternatively they are preserved in formalaldehyde or other alcohols.

This harsh treatment will effectively destroy DNA.

[mr d]

hello

 

thank you for replying.

just wondering if boiling holds true for teeth and dna.

 

thank you mr d

[Mokele]

Any preserved specimen won't have a good quantity of DNA. Skins are tanned, bodies are boiled or fed to bettles to skeletonize, then often treated with whitening and sealing agents. Teeth don't have that much DNA in anyway. Preservation in alcohol or formaldehyde will similarly mess up the DNA. Add on that DNA decays fairly rapidly except under remarkable conditions while most specimens are kept at room temperature (hence the preservation).

 

Basically, any method of preserving animal bits involved getting rid of the bits that rot, and DNA is a bit that rots. You'd find traces, of course, but never a whole genome.

 

Mokele

[futureless]

Any preserved specimen won't have a good quantity of DNA. Skins are tanned' date=' bodies are boiled or fed to bettles to skeletonize, then often treated with whitening and sealing agents. Teeth don't have that much DNA in anyway. Preservation in alcohol or formaldehyde will similarly mess up the DNA. Add on that DNA decays fairly rapidly except under remarkable conditions while most specimens are kept at room temperature (hence the preservation).

 

Basically, any method of preserving animal bits involved getting rid of the bits that rot, and DNA is a bit that rots. You'd find traces, of course, but never a whole genome.

 

Mokele[/quote']

 

Good point! I'm not familar with the preservation process, but what about bones? Or possibly bone marrow?

Is it not possible that certain cells in the body can tolerate a range of conditions?

[Mokele]

Bones are typically just left in storage, without much special preservation beyond maybe some varnish to protect from degradation and a quick brush with hydrogen peroxide to whiten then up. There's little done to them to destroy the DNA, but nothing done to protect it either. Given that it decays pretty readily in dead tissue, I wouldn't be optimistic about lots of usable DNA without grinding up a *lot* of bones.

 

Mokele

[JesuBungle]

This is kind of on the same subject. I've heard there was a mammoth that was dug up in Siberia I think, and it was perfectly preserved, fur and all. Would it be possible to use the DNA from that specimen to make a clone mammoth, or is the age a big factor?

[Anjruu]

Look at this article in New Scientist. It says we might be able to correct for the degradation of DNA in Ice Age animals.

[JesuBungle]

Wow, that's awesome. That would be kinda weird with mammoths walking the earth again. Ooooh, and maybe sabertooths:eek:

[CanadaAotS]

It all comes down to jurassic park really...

 

*wants a pet dino!!!* lol

 

Nice location there JesuBungle haha

[Mokele]

We have actually recovered some DNA (degraded and incomplete) from a mamoth jaw bone which was mostly frozen for about a million years, IIRC. However, the "mostly frozen" part is what matters. Without that, you won't get DNA from bones even a tenth of that age.

 

Mokele

[Michael J. Bettua]

hello

 

was wondering if any one has seen as recent news on reanimating dna in dead tissue.

no not frankenstein or jurrasic park here. the idea is this.

we have cloning basically functional enough to produce viable subjects. such as dolly the sheep. in the world there are many species that are so low in numbers they are having problems with genetic available material with in the species.

we also have museums with specimens of these animals. would it be possible to reanimate dna from these specimens, collect egg samples from living species members and clone the specimens. hence increasing the genetic pool.

don't quite see the problem many have with the cloning live specimens, since the individuals you are seeking to clone are deseased.

 

strange thoughts

 

mr d

 

I believe it is possible to reanimate life itself from any DNA sample using an artificial/fake egg to create an exact duplicate.

Edited September 11, 2012 by Michael J. Bettua

[dmaiski]

there was an article a while back

they found ways of retrieving DNA material from fossilized bones in some cases

 

the power of google and eidetic memory! (mostly googles eidetic memory)

http://dienekes.blogspot.co.uk/2005/09/dna-preserved-in-crystals-of-ancient.html