Mar 14 2022
De-Extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger
The last known thylacine, commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger, was in captivity in 1936. This marsupial predator was wiped out by human hunting. At the time Europeans colonized Australia the range of the thylacine was limited to Tasmania, but it did not survive contact with Europeans for very long.
The thylacine is now one of the primary targets for de-extinction – literally bringing the species back from extinction using cloning technology. This effort has just received a significant boost. The University of Melbourne just received a $5 million grant to develop their Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research (TIGRR) Lab. Scientists love their clever acronyms, and I wonder how long they had to work on this one.
The researchers at the lab have a specific plan in terms of how to bring back the thylacine. They have already completed the first step, which is to completely sequence the thylacine genome. Now they need to study this genome to understand it as best as they can. They will need to synthesize a complete genome, and then place it in stem cells prepared from another marsupial. This is where the cloning process comes in. You remove the DNA from the stem cell, insert the new DNA, and then coax the cell into dividing to form an embryo. They then plan to implant the embryo into a living host, such as a Tasmanian devil, who will then give birth to a live thylacine.
The process is tricky. We have cloned large mammals before, but not of an extinct species. Also, the process is not done when we have one thylacine. The goal is to create a breeding population. That means we need many individuals, both male and female, with sufficient genetic diversity. Once they have established a breeding population in captivity, the ultimate goal is then to reintroduce them back into the ecosystem of Tasmania.