Could advances in genetics bring extinct beasts back to life?

Although at the present time it is not possible to create a living creature from knowing its genome sequence, speculations have recently occurred about whether this will be attempted in the future.

When geneticists published the near-complete genome of the extinct woolly mammoth last November, scientists such as Stephan Schuster, a molecular biologist at Pennsylvania State University proposed that bringing these animals back to life by recreating their DNA sequences was sure to be attempted someday.

This will only be possible for creatures from which we can retrieve a complete genome sequence, which is extremely difficult as often their DNA is attacked by bacteria and sunlight as soon as they die.

DNA can be preserved if the creature is frozen to death, or dies in a dark cave or extremely dry area. However, most of the genetic code will not survive for more than a million years, which makes it impossible for creatures which date as far back as dinosaurs to be resurrected.

Other extinct creatures besides the woolly mammoth may also be recreated, such as the sabre-tooth tiger, extinct 10000 years ago, the Neanderthal, extinct 25000 years ago and the Tasmanian Tiger, extinct 73 years ago.

Although the speculation that these long extinct beasts could be brought back to life is quite intriguing, an array of practical problems arises, such as their where they will live, what they will eat and how they will disrupt our food chain, making this a very controversial topic.

Source of article:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126905.000-ten-extinct-beasts-that-could-walk-the-earth-again.html?full=true

Source of image:
http://www.healthstones.com/dinosaurstore/carnegie_collection/woolly_mammoth/woolly_mammoth.jpg

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