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Cloning the
Tasmania Tiger - turning science fiction into fact
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| 27-August-2002 |
 The
man behind the attempt to bring the Tasmania Tiger back from extinction
through cloning was in Wollongong recently to explain the revolutionary
project.
Australian Museum
director Professor Mike Archer spoke about the project that would turn
science fiction into fact at a public meeting at the Wollongong Science
Centre and Planetarium in Squires Way, Fairy Meadow.
The last known Tasmanian
Tiger, or Thylacine, died in captivity in 1936, but Professor Archer is
leading a team of biologists who believe the animal's extinction may simply
be a 70-year hiccup.
After more than two
years of ongoing cloning research, the Australian Museum has overcome
a crucial obstacle in its continuing efforts to bring the Tasmania Tiger
back to life. In May the Evolutionary Biology Unit at the museum successfully
replicated individual Tasmanian Tiger genes using a process known as PCR
(Polymerase Chain Reaction).
In 1999 DNA was successfully
extracted from an ethanol preserved Tasmanian Tiger pup sample. Additional
DNA has been extracted from two other individual pups in 2001. These other
tissue sources included bone, tooth, bone marrow and dried muscle.
The most significant
breakthrough to date has been the replication of individual Tasmanian
Tiger genes using the PCR process. These PCRs show that short fragments
of the DNA are undamaged and undoubtedly Tasmanian Tiger DNA, and that
there is no reason why these should not work in a living cell.
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