The
Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine has been extinct for almost 100 years. Scientists look to bring back the thylacine through the use of gene editing. To accomplish this scientists will look to create a Tasmanian tiger cell by editing the DNA of a cell from its closest relative, the fat-tailed dunnart. This cell will then be nurtured back to a living animal. Segments of the genome are still known, so this new thylacine will not be an exact replica, rather it will be a
hybrid species. There is speculation this new species could even survive on its own. This raises the question whether this whole process is worth all the effort, time and money?
This study raises many more concerns that needs to be addressed. There are ethical concerns about the resurrection of a species, environmental concerns about the addition of a new species into an environment. But the potential that this study as well as the study of the resurrection of the woolly mammoth posses are incredible. It is fascinating that the DNA sequence can not only be obtained from a skeleton almost 100 years ago, but also can be encoded into another living cell. I believe this study is completely worth all the resources dedicated to it because it represents an advancement in the study of genetics and life.
