A Dallas-based biotechnology company has almost finished rebuilding a Tasmanian tiger just two years into its de-extinction project.
The last known Tasmanian tiger, commonly referred to as the Tasmanian tiger, died in captivity on September 7, 1936. None have been spotted throughout Tasmania since, despite countless expeditions that have attempted to rediscover the tiger.
Without the integrity of the apex predator to maintain order and keep the fauvist range in check, its former habitat collapsed under the pressure as wildfires, disease and invasive species flourished unopposed.
Colossal Biosciences, the company behind the de-extinction effort, has since recovered 99.9% of the tiger genome, leaving only 45 remaining gaps that are guaranteed to be closed soon, Colossal Biosciences reported. Popular Mechanics.
The thylacine genome was first sequenced in 2017 from the remains of a 107-year-old Tasmanian tiger pouch preserved in alcohol. However, there were too many genetic gaps for it to be viable.
Since then, Colossal has used a 120-year-old thylacine tooth to recover more genetic material and fill in the gaps.
“Most ancient samples preserve fragments of DNA that are dozens of bases long, or hundreds if we’re lucky,” says Andrew Pask of the University of Melbourne, a member of Colossal’s scientific advisory board. He told New Scientist magazine.
“The sample we had access to was so well preserved that we were able to recover DNA fragments thousands of bases long.”
However, the biotech company has not limited its de-extinction campaign to Australia.
While the company has partnered with Australian scientists to bring back the Tasmanian tiger, the company has also led the revival of the woolly mammoth and boosted the genomes of endangered species such as the American bison.
The Tasmanian tiger revival was originally announced in August 2022 with the aim of breeding the first new tiger within six to 10 years. He aims to do this by implanting the finished genome into the egg of a dassaurid – a family of marsupial mammals that is the closest living match to the tiger.
The first group of armies will be raised on private land until the species becomes stable enough to be reintroduced into their habitat.
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