In a study published on the ninth of last March, a number of geneticists presented a vision of how to revive an extinct species of rats.
A report by the French newspaper "Le Parisien" stated that scientists have believed for years in the possibility of embodying the idea of returning extinct organisms to life in what is known as "de-extinction", and even with the failure to prevent the sixth wave of mass extinctions, This process will undoubtedly contribute to bringing some species back to life.
Scientists succeeded for the first time in 2009 in cloning an ibex from the cells of another animal similar to it, but it died soon after.
The extinct rat used to live on Christmas Island in Australia (Shutterstock)
Christmas Island Rat
In the study, published in Current Biology, the focus was on a species of rat that became extinct a century ago and lived on Australia's Christmas Island.
This rat is scientifically known as "Rattus macleari" and it disappeared 100 years ago due to an epidemic carried by European ships, and scientists confirm that they are not seeking to bring it back to life in order to fill the sewage channels in the cities with it, but they are seeking to find a way to revive the extinct creatures, Which is a huge challenge because of the damage to the DNA available from them.
According to Tom Gilbert, a geneticist at the Danish University of Copenhagen and a participant in the research, "The difference between modern and ancient DNA is like a whole book and a torn one. Both contain information, but it is difficult to understand the information in the torn book."
Scientists with CRISPR technology can modify an organism's DNA to match the DNA of an extinct organism (Shutterstock)
Is it an elusive miracle?
In the case of Ratus McCleary, scientists need to compare the ancient DNA of the extinct organism with the genomes of living species close to it, which is possible in the case of this rodent because 95% of its genome (which scientists have been able to obtain almost completely) is shared with the brown rat known as The Norwegian rat would be the best option for this experiment.
After identifying the points of difference in the genomes of both species, scientists can theoretically modify the DNA of an organism, "CRISPR", to match the DNA of an extinct organism.
But according to the authors of the study, even in the case of this rodent, the results will be disappointing because 5% of the original genome cannot be restored, and this means that the organism resulting from this process will have a different immune system and will not have the same sense of smell as its predecessor.
Colossal spent $15 million last year on mammoth resurrection research (Shutterstock)
Can mammoths be revived?
As part of these de-extinction attempts, the startup Colossal spent last year $15 million on research to recreate the mammoth, which became extinct 4,000 years ago.
In the past two decades, it was believed that this creature that walks on frozen land reduces emissions from melting ice.
Tom Gilbert explains that the goal of this research is not to return the mammoth in its original form, but to return a species that can coexist with the rest of the other species, i.e. an elephant with mammoth characteristics.