The rebirth of the thylacine: scientists can recreate the Tasmanian marsupial wolf

Australian scientists at the University of Melbourne are working with biotech company Colossal Biosciences to revive the extinct Tasmanian marsupial wolf, the thylacine, using gene editing and sequencing technology.

In 2007, scientists from the University of Melbourne sequenced the genome (determined all or almost the entire DNA sequence of the organism's genome at a time. -

) of thylacine, isolating part of its DNA from a specimen stored in the museum. 

In 2022, a group of 50 scientists teamed up with Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company focused on wildlife and ecosystem conservation and genetic research to revive woolly mammoths.

“Now we can make huge breakthroughs in the conservation of the endangered Australian marsupials and take on the challenge of recreating the lost species,” said Professor Andrew Pask, head of the laboratory for research on the complex genetic restoration of the marsupial wolf.

• Gettyimages.ru

Colossal Biosciences is going to conduct experiments using CRISPR technology, based on cutting and editing DNA sequences to create a genetic code.

Scientists believe that it is possible to combine the technology with their developments in sequencing the thylacine genome.

According to experts, the first cub of an extinct animal may be born in 10 years.

Paleontologist Yaroslav Popov, in an interview with RT, noted that Australian scientists have already been able to compile the complete genome of the marsupial wolf.

At the moment, thanks to CRISPR technology, they want to introduce sections of the genes of an extinct animal into the genome of the marsupial shrew as close as possible to the thylacine.

According to the scientist, for this they need to find differences in the DNA in both animals and understand which genes need to be replaced.

At the next stage, scientists will replace the genes and create new DNA, which they will introduce into the cell of the marsupial shrew, the specialist explained.

“It is not very clear how the embryo itself will grow: in a test tube or in a surrogate mother.

This still needs to be worked out.

The animal will then need to be fed and raised somehow, and in what environment the scientists plan to do this is still unknown, ”Popov noted.

According to the expert, the process of reviving the thylacine may be delayed and it is too early to say when the cub will be born.

“If Australian colleagues can take into account all the nuances and raise a cub, they will become pioneers.

However, they have been trying to clone mammoths for a long time, but so far scientists have not succeeded.

Perhaps history will repeat itself with the marsupial wolf, ”explained the paleontologist.

Recall that marsupial wolves in recent history were found only on the island of Tasmania, where they were widespread until the 1830s.

Among the reasons for the extinction of these animals are diseases, competition with dingo dogs, human extermination, climate change, a combination of all or several of these factors.