- Researchers plan to create a mammoth-elephant hybrid in an artificial uterus
- Frozen mammoth genes will be spliced with those of an Asian elephant
- Scientists will use the controversial CRISPR technology to make the hybrid
- Its cells have genes for mammoths features as shaggy long hair and thick layers of fat
They became extinct thousands of years, but now scientists claim that they are just two years away from bringing the woolly mammoths from the dead.
The shaggy beasts roamed last the tundra of Siberia before our human ancestors probably hunted them to extinction.
Now a project to bring back the mammoth said, within two years, the closest thing possible to a mammoth could be created.
It would be a hybrid between an Asian elephant and a mammoth-maybe you could call it a "mamephant."
They became extinct thousands of years, but now scientists claim that they are just two years away from bringing the woolly mammoths from the dead. Pictured is a 39 000 year old female woolly mammoth found frozen in the ice of Siberia in 2013.It would be created from DNA extracted from carcasses of frozen mammoth comes from permafrost.
If Harvard University scientists are successful it marked a turning point in plans to revive mammoths - by programming their genes in an Asian elephant.
The bundle of cells have genes for characteristics mammoths such asshaggy long hair, thick layers of fat and blood that is perfectly adapted to the flowing in sub zero conditions.
But years of work ahead before making any serious attempt to produce a living creature.
Scientists have ambitious plans to grow in an artificial uterus rather than recruit an elephant as a surrogate mother.
Since the beginning of the project in 2015, the researchers increased the number of 'changes' where the mammoth DNA was spliced into the genome of the elephant from 15 to 45.
Professor George Church, who directs the Harvard team, said: "we are working on ways to assess the impact of these changes and essentially provide the embryogenesis in laboratory.
"The list of the changes affect the things that contribute to the success of the elephants in cold environments.
We already know about those to do with small ears, of subcutaneous fat, hair and blood, but there are others who seem to be positively selected.
The Harvard University scientists plan to use CRISPR gene technology to splice the preserved DNA of a frozen mammoth carcass with the DNA of an Asian elephant
Lyuba, the world's most well-preserved mammoth, went on display at the Natural History museum in 2014
He added: "our goal is to produce a hybrid embryo of elephant/mammoth. In fact, it would be more like an elephant with a number of features of mammoth.
"We are not at that stage yet, but it can happen in a few years."
The woolly mammoth travelled across Europe, Asia, Africa and NorthAmerica during the last glacial and missing some 4,500 years, probably due to a combination of climate change and hunting by humans.
Their closest living relative is Asia, rather than Africa, elephant.
"In-out" the mammoth has become a realistic prospect because of editing techniques revolutionary of genes which allow the precise selection and insertion of DNA from specimens frozen for thousands of years in the ice of Siberia.
Professor Church has contributed to the development of the technique more widely used, known CRISPR/Cas9, genetic engineering has transformed since it has been demonstrated in 2012.
The woolly mammoth roamed across Europe, Asia, Africa and North America during the last Ice Age and vanished some 4,500 years ago, probably due to a combination of climate change and hunting by humans (stock image)
The system allows the handling of "copy / paste" of DNA strands with a precision not seen before.
Edition gene and its ethical implications is one of the main topics under discussion in the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting, being held in Boston, Massachusetts.
Professor Church, guest speaker at the meeting, said that the mammoth project had two objectives - an alternative future for endangered Asian elephant and help combat global warming.
Woolly mammoths could help prevent the tundra of melting permafrost and releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
"They keep the tundra of the cast by punching in the snow and allowing cold air to come," said Professor Church.
Snow and ice act as insulation, thus, drill holes in it helps to cool the Earth below.
He added: "in the summer they cut down trees and help grass grow." The effect of the mammoths might have a significant effect on temperatures in Siberia, some research has shown.
Scientists intend to elephant skin cells to produce the embryo or several embryos, the engineer using cloning techniques.
The reprogrammed cells nuclei would be placed in elephant own egg whose genetic material has been removed.
The eggs are then artificially stimulated to develop into embryos.
Referring to the artificial uterus, Professor Church said: "We hope to make the entire procedure ex vivo (outside of a living body).
"It would be unreasonable to put female breeding endangered species endangered.
"We test the growth of mice ex vivo. There are experiments in the literature since the 1980s, but he was no great interest for awhile.
"Today, we have a new set of technology and we are taking a new look at it."
Professor Church also provides this age reversal will become a reality in 10 years as a result of new developments in genetic engineering.
Yet, he believes CRISPR gene edition has been exaggerated.
"I don't think it's the cat's Meow," he said.
"It's just another technology. "To say that he changed everything it islike saying that the Beatles invented the ' 60s.
MAMMOTH FACT FILE
The woolly mammoth walked through the frozen tundra of Europe and North America for 140 000 years, disappears at the end of the Pleistocene, 10,000 years ago.
They are one of the better understood prehistoric animals known toscience, because their bodies are often not fossilized but frozen andstored.
Males are about 12 feet (3.5 m), while the females are slightlysmaller.
Were curved tusks up to 16 feet (5 m) long and their tactics boastedwith a layer of shaggy hair up to 3 feet (1 m) long.
Small ears and a short tail prevented vital lost body heat.
Their trunks had 'two fingers' at the end to help collect herbs, twigs and other plant.
They take their name from the Russian, "mammut", or mole of Earthas it was believed the animals lived underground and die on contactwith light - explaining why they have always found dead and half-buried.
Their bones were already believed to have belonged to the races missing from the Giants.
The woolly mammoths and modern elephants are closely related, share 99.4 percent of their genes.
Both species have taken their separate evolutionary ways there are 6million years, to at about the same time humans and chimps went their own way.
Woolly mammoths co-existed with early humans, who hunted them for food and used their os and defenses for the manufacture of weapons and art.
