The wonder of modern technology is that scientists have been able to create clones of living things using a variety of processes. The result is a sample that made from the exact replica of the biological entity, sharing its genetic code with the letter. In the past, scientists cloned everything from cells and tissues to completely complex organisms like dolly sheep.
One of the world’s most endangered mammals – an ambitious project to increase genetic diversity among blacklegged ferrets – created a ferrite clone that died 30 years ago. The genetic material needed to make the clone sampled from a ferrite called Villa, which gave birth to her genetically identical doppelgänger, baby Elizabeth Ann.
The conservation project is collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Revive & Restore, ViaGen Pets & Equine, San Diego Zoo Global and the Association of Zoo and Aquariums. The goal is to overcome the current genetic barriers to recovering blacklegged ferrets populations, which are at risk in the future, if the surviving pools do not have adequate genetic diversity. Expansion of the gene pool with clones from a dead animal reduces the risk of reproductive health problems that often seen in offspring born of “pure-bred” dogs or females, usually in mammals when there is no other mate. Take it.
This may sound like a sci-fi movie set-off, but when you consider that all the existing black-legged ferrets have come down from just seven people, it starts to make sense. Will, the creature created from Elizabeth Ann, as she was one of the ferrets of the black foot caught in the wild. Seriously, his descendants sit outside the world’s seven “black established ferrets,” so Will’s DNA represents a great opportunity to return some diversity to the black-crowned ferret gene pool.
Cloning alone will not reintroduce the species, but the project aims to enhance the ongoing efforts to stabilize the wild population by restoring and increasing suitable habitat for these animals.
“The service sought the expertise of valuable recovery partners on how we can overcome the genetic limitations that hinder the recovery of black-legged ferries and we are proud to make this announcement today,” IFLScience said in a press release sent by email. Walsh is the director of the service’s Mountain-Prairie region, where the service’s national blacklegged ferry conservation center is located. “Although this study is preliminary, it is the first cloning of an endangered species in North America and it provides a promising tool for continued efforts to conserve black-legged ferrites.”
