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November 20, 2008 8:44 AM
by Mammoth Maggie Fox
WASHINGTON - Researchers have sequenced the gene map of a long-extinct, mummified woolly mammoth, using DNA taken from its hair.
The sequence shows that mammoths were more closely related to modern, living elephants than previously thought, and they found some elements, such as evidence of inbreeding, that may shed light on why the giant creatures went extinct, the researchers reported on Wednesday.
And it shows that it is possible to reconstruct the genomes of extinct creatures, they reported in the journal Nature.
"By deciphering this genome we could, in theory, generate data that one day may help other researchers to bring the woolly mammoth back to life by inserting the uniquely mammoth DNA sequences into the genome of the modern-day elephant," Stephan Schuster of Pennsylvania State University, who helped lead the research, said in a statement.
"This would allow scientists to retrieve the genetic
information that was believed to have been lost
when the mammoth died out, as well as to bring
back an extinct species that modern humans have
missed meeting by only a few thousand years."
The sequence shows that mammoths, which died out
around 10,000 years ago, evolved slowly.
"We discovered that individual woolly mammoths
were so genetically similar to one another that they
may have been especially susceptible to being wiped
out by a disease, by a change in the climate, or by
humans," said Schuster.
The researchers will have to analyze the DNA to
pinpoint some of the precise sequences unique to
mammoths, but have some hints.
"Our data suggest that mammoths and modern-day
elephants separated around six million years ago,
about the same time that humans and chimpanzees
separated," added Penn State biologist Webb Miller,
who directed the study.
CLOSE RELATIVES
But mammoths and elephants appear more closely
related than humans and chimpanzees are. Miller said
the findings can help scientists understand evolution.
The researchers have been pulling DNA out of mummified
mammoths and their hair for more than a decade, but
because it is so old, the DNA is broken down. It is also
contaminated by bacteria and fungi.
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