By Glenn Petrie, Ph.D.
Senior Scientific Advisor
ABC Laboratories
www.abclabs.com
As a boy I was fascinated with dinosaurs. But while most
children grew out of this by 7 or 8, I remained engrossed in all things
“saurus”. As I started my career in biotechnology, I was particularly interested
in Michael Crichton’s book Jurassic Park.
I read it in a single sitting and went to the first showing when the movie
was released. Now that JURASSIC WORLD
is a worldwide phenomenon, interest in reviving extinct species, or
de-extinction, has been brought to the forefront. But could JURASSIC WORLD actually be possible? The
short answer is no. DNA is the key to any attempts at de-extinction, but while
stable, it is not stable for millions of years. Therefore, since dinosaurs went
extinct 65 million years ago, there is no viable DNA
However, DNA can survive tens of thousands of years in the
right environment, particularly frozen. There are numerous articles in both the
scientific and popular literature regarding bringing Wooly Mammoths back to
life. Frozen carcasses discovered in Russia have yielded partially intact DNA. JURASSIC WORLD scientists use the
bottom-up technique, i.e. start with a fairly complete genome and plug the gaps
with that of similar species. In reality the top-down approach is more likely
since only partial DNA genomes have been recovered. Scientists are attempting
to modify elephant DNA with some of the mammoth’s. The goal is to obtain a
hybrid, an elephant with some mammoth traits. With the explosion in
biotechnology, one could envision a Pleistocene Park. Rather than dinosaurs it
would be populated with animals from the Pleistocene era, ~10,000 years ago.
Among the possible exhibits could be Wooly Mammoths, Saber Tooth Cats, Wooly
Rhinoceros, Giant Ground Sloths and the Giant Short-faced Bear. Think of the La
Brea Tar Pits brought to life.
Even if this is possible, should it be attempted (“But John,
if Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.”)?
While no one is seriously proposing de-extinction as a theme park, many are
interested in using this technology to increase biodiversity and bring back
species that humans destroyed, e.g. passenger pigeon, Steller seal, Tasmanian
tiger and the dodo. Since there are numerous specimens of these species
throughout the museums of the world, there is a reasonable chance of success.
However, many ecologists see this as a zero sum game. They believe that any
money spent on de-extinction represents less money for efforts to save
endangered species; protection, habitat, etc. There may be a middle ground in
which de-extinction methods could be used with endangered species to increase
genomic diversity and increase the chances for a healthy population.
I look forward to following the latest
developments in this exciting field and will provide an update with the release
of JURASSIC WORLD 2.
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