Science: Revive a mammoth is possible.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Science: Revive a mammoth is possible.

This is not science fiction. The cloning of an animal it is possible and, oddly controversial, revive a mammoth species extinct for 4500 years is considered a scientifically viable project.

The investigator and veterinarian Hwang Woo-suk, stem cell specialist, leads the initiative.

Through an agreement with the Federal University Northeastern Russia, South Korean scientists Sooamd Research Foundation will attempt to clone a woolly mammoth through their tissue samples with eggs from a current Indian elephant.

After applying the cell nuclear transfer process, common step in the process of cloning, the egg is implanted in the uterus of a live elephant, the mammoth  gestates for 22 months.

The agreement with the Russian university comes six months after the two sides signed an initial pact for South Korean researchers could use the samples taken from mammoth remains found in the glaciers of the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation. Hwang Woo-suk was once considered a pioneer in the field of stem cells to clone a dog in 2005.

Experts believe that it is possible to clone a mammoth, since prehistoric animal cells that can be found both in the blood and internal organs such as the skin and bones. A César Paz y Mino, academic and geneticist, not surprised with this possibility. "The mammoth cloning is possible because the animal is found male and female Indian elephant is. The egg is always more important than sperm. "

Although for Eugenia del Pino, director of the Laboratory of Developmental Biology at the Catholic University of Quito,Ecuador this type of cloning has already been made with live animals, the mammoth and the elephant, even if they have close relationship, are different species.

 Paz y Mino holds that in any case, after cloning animals will try to play to achieve purification of information. However, from a hybrid gene never achieve a 100% pure. What is the desire to clone a mammoth? "There's always the hope of resurrecting an extinct species," said Del Pino, who in his role as biologist would see again the kind of Lonesome George, of the Pinta Island.

She is aware that science has advanced, but the project certainly stem cell specialist because previous attempts have falsified evidence to confirm their novel theories about human cloning.

 In 2009, a Seoul court sentenced him to two years in prison for falsification of genetic data and use public funds for their scientific projects. Additionally, the hypothetical cloning could affect the environment. "It is best to protect our planet, with its plant and animal species. You have to let the mammoths as beings of the past, "adds the researcher. Geneticist Ecuadorian emphasizes that cloning projects are also ethical questions. 

"Why do not respect the essence of the animal species?, Do we need to relive?" Asks Paz y Mino. "While it is true that doing so violates the essence of the species, the scientific whim always wanted to demonstrate their ability and progress."

The chronology:

1996 Dolly the sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Ryuzo Yanagimachi 1997 The researcher cloned 22 mice alive, with good parenting. 2000 In Scotland also made history and controversy when the first cloned pigs. 2001 On this date, the American researcher Mark Westhusin Copycat created. 2002 cats were obtained and cloned and genetically modified to glow under ultraviolet light. 2003 Futi was created thanks to the DNA of a cow with a record in milk production. 2006 The researcher Hwang Woo-suk cloned the first dog, an Afghan named Snyppy. 2009 In Camel Reproduction Centre in Dubai for the first time cloned a camel. Got 2010 was the first cloned fighting bull in Spain. With it opened the possibility of creating a tissue bank. 2012 The Research Foundation Sooamd Federal University in Seoul and Northeast of Russia initiated a project to clone a mammoth with an Indian elephant.

Diario El Comercio Ecuador