Molecular Genetics

(submitted by AB) Imagine a world where pigeons and squirrels frolic about campus. The occasional feral cat dashing across west mall. Rove herds of woolly mammoths grazing around the MLK statue…

It seems that the genome of the extinct mammoth has been sequenced. This will allow scientists to compare the sequences with modern elephants to study differences that might shed light on their origins and their demise.
Several new techniques were employed including isolating the DNA from only the hair of mammoth mummies. In doing this, contaminating DNA from bacteria and fungi can easily be eliminated. The hair follicles serve to protect the DNA also.

It may be possible clone portions of the mammoth’s DNA and swap it in to elephant DNA using homologous recombination. With successive generations, we could repopulate Sarahpalinia with mammoths to support the hunting tourism industry. Molecular genetics at its best.