Russian experts are searching for living cells in extinct animal tissue to recreate DNA chain in bid to 'grow embryos in an Indian elephant'
THE huge beast was a truly astonishing sight as the metal door of the Siberian laboratory’s refrigerated storeroom creaked open.
With its vast head and curved 7ft tusks, the creature looked as though it might rear up and roar amid the frosty chill.
A white-coated Russian scientist beckoned me to stroke the matted dark fur on its forehead, which was coarse to the touch.
It was hard to believe I was seeing, touching and even breathing in the musky animal scent of a long-extinct woolly mammoth.
And even harder to believe this majestic beast drew its last breath 43,000 years ago on the icy plains of Siberia.
Flesh, blood and bones of the mammoth have been literally frozen in time in the permafrost which covers Russia’s most desolate northern territory.
WOOLLY mammoths disappeared from the planet 10,000 years ago.
And this perfectly preserved tissue is now at the forefront of a ground-breaking Jurassic Park-style bid to make this — and other — long-extinct species walk the earth once more.
Mammoth expert Dr Albert Protopopov, who is leading research at the Academy of Sciences in Yakutsk in Siberia, said: “Bringing mammoths and other extinct creatures back to life by cloning is an impossible dream right now.
“But science is advancing so quickly that it could be a reality in ten or 20 years. The tissue we have discovered in the permafrost gives us the raw material we need to try to reconstruct the genetic code of the species.
“We live in hope that in all this material we will find living cells — perhaps in frozen mammoth sperm — which will enable us to complete the DNA chain.
“A genetically modified embryo could then be implanted in the mammoth’s closest living relative, the Indian elephant.
“And that might enable these amazing animals to walk the earth again. It is a marvellous thought.”
Dr Protopopov and fellow paleontologist Dr Gennady Boeskorov are leading a team of Russian experts working on vast stores of ancient animal tissue recovered from the frozen wastes surrounding their lab.
I watched them dissect a second mammoth’s head to discover 43,000- year-old ice in its throat, proving it died by drowning.
Russia’s diamond-rich Sakha Republic, where Yakutsk is the capital, is the source of 80 per cent of the soft-tissued Pleistocene and Holocene animal finds vital to the research.
Woolly mammoths towered more than 12ft and weighed six tonnes — around the size of today’s African elephants — but looked bigger thanks to their dense, furry insulation.
They co-existed with early humans, who are believed to have helped drive them to extinction around 10,000 years ago by hunting.
Climate change is also thought to have played a part in the demise of the species as it caused their natural habitat to shrink.
But these lost giants are not the only creatures set to make a comeback thanks to the miracle of genetic engineering. Dr Protopopov’s team are also working on preserved samples from extinct woolly rhinos, wolves and cave lions found close to a frozen river.
Long-gone breeds of horses could be the first to return by cloning, because their genetic code is close to that of their modern relatives.
The Yakutsk Academy team went on to show me their most exciting finds of recent years — two cave lion cubs dubbed Boris and Spartak.
Little Boris, around 2ft long and covered in spotted and striped fur, was so well preserved he looked as though he had died yesterday.
Dr Protopopov explained the creature had been killed with his sibling Spartak in a cave collapse more than 40,000 years ago. It was awe-inspiring to see the extinct animal laid out like a cuddly toy in a touching death pose, with his paws raised to shield himself as he was crushed.
Spartak, who was also around two weeks old when he died, emerged from the freezer complete with soft brown fur and eyes closed in a deathly grimace.
An even more dramatic new find was then removed from the freezer in a puff of icy air — the severed head of a long-extinct species of wolf, complete with sharp white fangs.
All these creatures could soon once more roam the bone-chilling Russian wilderness thanks to scientific advances in years to come, experts believe. The ultimate aim is to create a “Pleistocene Park” in Siberia, recreating the North Yakutia habitat where the creatures once roamed. And the challenge to be first to make the breakthrough is picking up speed as rival groups vie for funding for their projects.
Plans by another Yakutsk-based team include a new £4.5million cloning facility run by Russian scientists working with South Korean specialists. They hope to hone revolutionary gene editing techniques which allow the precise selection and insertion of DNA from frozen specimens. The most common technique, known as ‘CRISPR/Cas9’, has transformed genetics since it was first demonstrated in 2012.
It enables scientists to “cut and paste” strands of DNA with a precision previously thought impossible.
South Korean team leader Professor Hwang Woo-suk said: “There is still a very big distance between the ancient mammoth and the elephant — a million years of evolution between them.
“But if we can find just one live cell, we can multiply it and get as many embryos as we need. And if we manage to clone the horse, it will be the first step to cloning the mammoth.” An American-based team based at Harvard University has also joined the race to use preserved mammoth DNA to resurrect the species.
Harvard’s Professor George Church plans to insert woolly mammoth genes into an Asian elephant embryo by as soon as 2020.
And Yakutsk Academy’s Dr Protopopov believes the competition is boosting the prospect of making the mammoth dream a reality.
He told The Sun: “For centuries, mankind has been driving species like the mammoth to extinction across the globe.
“But this is our chance to reverse some of the harm we have done to the planet. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could finally start turning back the clock?”
