Thursday, April 9, 2015

Woolly Mammoth's DNA

     

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Blood was recovered from a frozen Woolly Mammoth and they want to make a hybrid elephant using the Mammoth's DNA. Also it might be used to help patients lower their body temperature if needed.
 
"Chien Ho and colleagues note that woolly mammoth ancestors initially evolved in warm climates, where African and Asian elephants live now, but migrated to the cold regions of Eurasia 1.2-2.0 million years ago in the Pleistocene ice age. They adapted to their new environment by growing thick, "woolly" fur and smaller ears, which helped conserve heat, and possibly by changing their DNA. In previous research, Ho and colleagues discovered that a blood protein (hemoglobin) that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body in the woolly mammoth has mutations in its DNA that make it different from that of its cousin, the Asian elephant. The scientists turned to the mutations that helped woolly mammoths survive freezing temperatures, and carefully analyzed hemoglobin from the ancient animal." (Yue Yuan, Tong-Jian Shen, Priyamvada Gupta, Nancy T. Ho, Virgil Simplaceanu, Tsuey Chyi S. Tam, Michael Hofreiter, Alan Cooper, Kevin L. Campbell, Chien Ho. A Biochemical–Biophysical Study of Hemoglobins from Woolly Mammoth, Asian Elephant, and Humans. Biochemistry, 2011; 50 (34): 7350 DOI: 10.1021/bi200777j)
 
The understanding of this will allow scientists to come up with medicines that can save people during procedures when their body temperatures drop too low. Although the body temperatures will still drop they will still get the oxygen supply that they need.
 
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