Called Ratus McCloryIt is a rat in the Muridae family that lived on Christmas Island in historical times, became extinct about 119 years ago, and its genetic makeup has been almost completely reconstructed. ScholarsUniversity of CopenhagenPublished an article about Current Biology Journal To spread the results of your work. Since it became a popular concept in the 1990s, resuscitation of endangered groups has been aimed at larger animals such as mammoths or dinosaurs, but the research team wants to explore the possibility of resuscitating a rat that may have become extinct due to disease and infection. . To European methods. Experts explain that Ratus McLaren lived on Christmas Island, politically owned by Australia, and is located in the southern Indian Ocean off Indonesia.
Major authors Tom Gilbert, They were able to acquire almost the entire genome of the rat, and found that 95% of its genomes were shared with the genus Ratus norvegicus, also known as the gray mouse. “Theoretically, Gilbert says, the CRISPR gene editing tool can be used to modify the DNA of living things, to resemble those of Ratus McLaren, and to bring back to life animals that became extinct 100 years ago. A series of ethical questions.” . “Based on current knowledge, it is important to make it clear that it is practically impossible to obtain all the information needed to create a model that is completely identical to an endangered species,” the author adds. “These are always hybrids. If possible, it would not be able to process odors like its predecessors, and although the copy was never complete, scientists say it would be necessary to modify the DNA of the nearest living animal to regenerate it, for example, in the case of an ecologically active mammoth, the temperature of the elephant’s DNA will change, causing changes. And will be able to resist. ”Try to bring endangered species back to Earth Before that – Gilbert concludes – we want to modify the genes of two species. We are very excited about future research, but it is a process that needs to be thought through and thought about. I think this is a great technology, but we wonder if it would be better to invest money to keep the currently endangered species alive.