Bring the plot Jurassic Park In real life this doesn’t seem like something highly recommended. Six films testify to this. But what would it be like to practice the resurrection of an animal much more innocent and just as symbolic as dodo? This is the goal of the association’s scientists. Colossal biosciencewhich together with Mauritius Wildlife Foundationthey want this big, lumbering bird to roam around Mauritius again.

The Advisory Board of this group of scientists is headed by Dr. Beth Sapirothe first person to completely organize dodo genome. In fact, the presence of this genome is key to continuing its destruction. But other issues also need to be resolved. The first is the presence of a still living species that can serve as a standard. In this case they have Nicobar pigeonthe most closely related of living birds.

As for the second question, it is to provide the dodo an ecosystem to return to. There is no point in bringing back a species if it has to live in a completely different place than the one it once inhabited. It’s quite difficult, but scientists are already working.

This would be a return to extinction for the dodo.

Cloning and gene editing are methods by which species are commonly brought back from extinction. But getting an extinct species in this way is much more difficult than doing it with a still living one, for obvious reasons.

First of all, it is necessary to sequence the genome, and this is quite difficult, since ancient DNA may be damaged or dirty with genetic material from other species, for example, with some microorganisms that have multiplied in their remains.

In the case of the dodo, this turned out to be more difficult, since there were practically no remains of the animal from which DNA could be extracted. Yes, it is true that there are many stuffed dodos in museums around the world, but the truth is that most of them are reproductions. They were never alive.

Fortunately, in Danish Museum of Natural History Yes, there was a skull from which Dr. Sapiro was able to extract genetic material from the dodo and sequence it. But even if you say consistency, without some kind of guideline you will not be able to move forward.

The reference view serves two functions. On the one hand, if the resurrection is carried out cloning, is used to produce eggs from which the nucleus is extracted, which is subsequently replaced with the nucleus of the species to be cloned. This is tricky because you need intact cells from an extinct species, which means it would have to be someone who had the foresight to extract the cells from their last specimens. For example, attempts have been made to bring back to life bucardo by this method. If this is not possible, the reference view serves as a guide for reproduce the genetic sequence of an extinct animal. That is, since they are closely related species, their DNA will be similar, so it will only need to be edited slightly to convert it into the DNA of an extinct animal.

The second mission of the reference type is that their females carry the resulting embryoseither by cloning or genetic engineering. We want to try all this with dodo. But what have they done so far?

The Nicobar pigeon is the reference species chosen to resurrect the extinction of the dodo. Photo: Nasser Halawe (Wikimedia Commons)

The Pigeon That Could Save the Dodo

The dodo is believed to be extinct at the end of the 17th century. This means that too much time has passed to preserve intact cells.

However, the Nicobar pigeon (Kaloenas nikobarika)is a kind of excellent reference book for work Genetic Engineering. This bird, endemic to some Indian Ocean islands, is the last surviving species of the genus. Kaloenas. This is not a genus of dodo, but the closest to it.

Therefore, he has enough genetic similarity to work with her. For this reason, these scientists have already started extracting primordial germ cells, which are the precursors of eggs and sperm. This will allow them to obtain a reference genome that they will later work on.

The task will not be easy. Yes, this will be a little easier. Mauritius pink pigeon (Nesoenas Mayeri). This bird, endemic to Mauritius, like the dodo, is seriously endangered, but some specimens still exist. Thus, precautions can be taken to retrieve and store cells for cloning if conservation efforts fail to prevent their extinction.

Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done to return the fauna of Mauritius to the state it was in. In the case of dodos, there may be some ethical dilemma. Is it worth returning to the planet a species that has not walked on it for several centuries, no matter how much we are to blame for its disappearance? Without a doubt, humans owe a debt to wildlife across the planet, but questions always arise about how best to make amends to us. One thing is clear: whatever the decision, we won’t be seeing dodos roaming Mauritius again anytime soon. There is still a lot of scientific work ahead, and the only thing that can be sure is that whatever they decide on, the path to achieving it will be exciting.

Source: Hiper Textual

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