Decades after the Australian quoll, known as the Tasmanian tiger, was declared extinct, scientists have announced a breakthrough in research into how to bring the carnivore back.
Colossal Biosciences said in a press release Thursday that the reconstructed thylacin genome is approximately 99.9% complete, with 45 gaps that it will work to fill through additional sequencing in the coming months. The company also isolated long RNA molecules from a 110-year-old preserved head that had been skinned and preserved in ethanol.
“The quoll sample used for the new reference genome is one of the best-preserved ancient specimens my team has worked with,” said Colossal’s chief scientific officer. said Beth Shapiro, director of the UCSC Paleogenomics Institute. “It’s rare to have a sample that can push the limits of ancient DNA methods this far.”
Efforts to bring back the Tasmanian tiger
The preservation of the Tasmanian tiger’s complete head meant that scientists could study RNA samples from several key tissue areas, including the tongue, nasal cavity, brain, and eyes. Andrew Park, a member of Colossal’s scientific advisory board and a researcher at the TIGRR Institute at the University of Melbourne, said researchers were trying to find out what sugar gliders taste and smell like and what their vision is. It will be possible to determine whether the brain is functioning properly and how the brain is functioning. .
“We are getting closer every day to being able to reintroduce sugar gliders into the ecosystem, which of course is a huge benefit for conservation,” Pask said.
In an interview with 60 Minutes earlier this year, Pask said the Tasmanian tiger’s closest living relative, a small marsupial called the fat-tailed dunnart, and researchers are trying to find a way to bring it back. said.
“But that little dunnart, even though it’s very, very small, is a ferocious carnivore,” Pask said. “And it’s a really good alternative to do all this editing work.”
Pask told 60 Minutes that scientists are comparing the DNA of Danat and the possum. From there, it’s a matter of editing the DNA to turn fat-tailed dunnart cells into possum cells.
Colossal Biosciences announced Thursday that it had edited more than 300 unique genetic changes into Dunnart cells, making it the “most edited animal cell ever.”
“We are really advancing the frontiers of de-extinction technology, from innovative ways to find regions of the genome that drive evolution to new ways to determine gene function. We are helping rebuild this species. We are in the best place ever to do so,” Pask said. We use the most thorough genomic resources and best-informed experiments to determine function. ”
Efforts to support the recovery of the Tasmanian tiger are not limited to Australia. Last year, scientists recovered and sequenced RNA from a 130-year-old Tasmanian tiger specimen stored at room temperature at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.
How did the Tasmanian tiger die?
The quoll has roamed Tasmania for thousands of years. Despite its other name, the Tasmanian tiger’s carnivores were marsupials such as kangaroos, koalas, and Tasmanian devils.
60 Minutes previously reported that in the late 1800s, the local government paid a bounty to hunters who turned in the carcass of a Tasmanian tiger because it was found to be eating farmers’ sheep. By the mid-1930s, the Tasmanian tiger population had dwindled to just one possum at Beaumaris Zoo in Tasmania’s capital, Hobart. He died there in 1936.
Australia similarly allows the culling of kangaroos and has authorized the deaths of thousands of kangaroos over the years. Officials said the kangaroo population was devouring the endangered species’ grassy habitat. Officials have previously warned that there is not enough food to sustain large kangaroo populations.
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Aliza Chasan
