Comments on: Crichton’s Dream Survives: Woolly Mammoth Genome 50% Complete http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/19/chrichtons-dream-survives-woolly-mammoth-genome-50-complete/ 80beats is DISCOVER's news aggregator, weaving together the choicest tidbits from the best articles covering the day\'s most compelling topics. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:24:00 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Stephen Gross http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/19/chrichtons-dream-survives-woolly-mammoth-genome-50-complete/comment-page-1/#comment-15596 Stephen Gross Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:52:47 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/19/chrichtons-dream-survives-woolly-mammoth-genome-50-complete/#comment-15596 Stephen Schuster's comment completely ignores some basic tenets of genetics and molecular biology, and it is more or less a ploy for press coverage and a disservice to real science. While it is great to sequence a genome and have those sequences for analysis, synthesizing a mammalian genome de novo is currently science fiction. It would be incredibly expensive just to develop the technology to synthesize chromosome-sized molecules of DNA (billions of bases long), or to replace the sequences in a pre-existing elephant genome (another fictional technology). In addition, we do not understand how to manipulate and re-create epigenetic marks needed to regulate mammoth genes correctly. DNA is associated with proteins and chemical modifications that tell genes when to turn on or off, a critical part of how genes control the development of an organism. Injecting naked DNA into an elephant cell wouldn't work. Sorry, but Jurassic Park isn't going to happen in 10 years. Stephen Schuster’s comment completely ignores some basic tenets of genetics and molecular biology, and it is more or less a ploy for press coverage and a disservice to real science. While it is great to sequence a genome and have those sequences for analysis, synthesizing a mammalian genome de novo is currently science fiction. It would be incredibly expensive just to develop the technology to synthesize chromosome-sized molecules of DNA (billions of bases long), or to replace the sequences in a pre-existing elephant genome (another fictional technology). In addition, we do not understand how to manipulate and re-create epigenetic marks needed to regulate mammoth genes correctly. DNA is associated with proteins and chemical modifications that tell genes when to turn on or off, a critical part of how genes control the development of an organism. Injecting naked DNA into an elephant cell wouldn’t work. Sorry, but Jurassic Park isn’t going to happen in 10 years.

]]> By: Dov Henis http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/19/chrichtons-dream-survives-woolly-mammoth-genome-50-complete/comment-page-1/#comment-15093 Dov Henis Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:52:38 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/19/chrichtons-dream-survives-woolly-mammoth-genome-50-complete/#comment-15093 Mammoth-Elephant And Human-Chimp A. From "Mammoth genome approaching completion" http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/38707/title/Mammoth_genome_approaching_completion Genetic material extracted from the hair of woolly mammoths has revealed new information about the extinct creatures, including how closely related they are to modern elephants. So far, the estimated overlap between the mammoth genome and that of the African elephant is about 99.4 percent...the two species last had a common ancestor about 7.6 million years ago... the rate of genetic change in elephants and their kin is about half that seen in humans and their kin during the same period...Humans and chimps last shared a common ancestor about 7 million years ago, and the genomes of these two species differ by about 1.24 percent... B. See the brief "Seed of Human-Chimp Genomes Diversity" at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-P81pQcU1dLBbHgtjQjxG_Q--?cq=1&p=179 A guaranteed eye-opener for this matter... Dov Henis (A DH Comment From The 22nd Century) http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-P81pQcU1dLBbHgtjQjxG_Q--?cq=1 Mammoth-Elephant And Human-Chimp

A. From “Mammoth genome approaching completion”

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/38707/title/Mammoth_genome_approaching_completion
Genetic material extracted from the hair of woolly mammoths has revealed new information about the extinct creatures, including how closely related they are to modern elephants.

So far, the estimated overlap between the mammoth genome and that of the African elephant is about 99.4 percent…the two species last had a common ancestor about 7.6 million years ago… the rate of genetic change in elephants and their kin is about half that seen in humans and their kin during the same period…Humans and chimps last shared a common ancestor about 7 million years ago, and the genomes of these two species differ by about 1.24 percent…

B. See the brief “Seed of Human-Chimp Genomes Diversity” at

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-P81pQcU1dLBbHgtjQjxG_Q–?cq=1&p=179

A guaranteed eye-opener for this matter…

Dov Henis

(A DH Comment From The 22nd Century)
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-P81pQcU1dLBbHgtjQjxG_Q–?cq=1

]]> By: Jumblepudding http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/19/chrichtons-dream-survives-woolly-mammoth-genome-50-complete/comment-page-1/#comment-14839 Jumblepudding Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:14:27 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/11/19/chrichtons-dream-survives-woolly-mammoth-genome-50-complete/#comment-14839 cloning dinosaurs-1.find DNA of extinct primitive bird 2.use most primitive, living bird as surrogate 3 .use eventual, resulting population of revived bird species as surrogates for even more primitive species 4.work your way backward with DNA and species until you have theropod dinosaurs, who could possibly then be used as surrogates for Sauropods. It may take hundreds of years and a lot of dino genetic material that we don't have, but it's kind of a leap to think we could get a dino genome in the first place, so why not? cloning dinosaurs-1.find DNA of extinct primitive bird 2.use most primitive, living bird as surrogate 3 .use eventual, resulting population of revived bird species as surrogates for even more primitive species 4.work your way backward with DNA and species until you have theropod dinosaurs, who could possibly then be used as surrogates for Sauropods. It may take hundreds of years and a lot of dino genetic material that we don’t have, but it’s kind of a leap to think we could get a dino genome in the first place, so why not?

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