by nicolas.boullosa
Museomics Miracle – Extinct ‘Tazmanian Tiger’ May Come Back To Life:
[Via Scientific Blogging - The world's best scientists. The internet's smartest readers]
“Tasmanian Tiger” is a common name of the extinct thylacine species (Thylacinus cynocephalus), which is more closely related to kangaroos and koalas than to dogs or tigers. In 1902, the National Zoo brought the endangered animal. By the mid-1930s, the thylacine was extinct, leaving behind only preserved museum specimens. In a new study, researchers used DNA sequencing to analyze preserved thylacines, including one brought to the National Zoo, making novel discoveries in thylacine genomics and the burgeoning field of “museomics.” Thylacines have played a central role in discussions about the possibility of bringing extinct species back to life, but despite the availability of many bones and other remains, previous attempts to read thylacine DNA had been unsuccessful.
It is really interesting that hair samples provide better mitochondrial DNA data than bones. Getting a good idea of how extinct animals fit into the world will help us gain a better understanding of the forces of natural selection. Here we see the lack of genetic diversity as a possible reason why they were more susceptible to habitat disruptions than other species.
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