In 1993, Steven Spielberg captured audiences with his prehistoric thriller, “Jurassic Park.” Using fossilized DNA, scientists were able to bring back to life the once extinct dinosaurs. The amazing thing about this movie is that the scientific achievement that was a prerequisite to reanimating extinct creatures was not realized until a full three years later.

The Advent of Cloning

In July of 1996, Ian Wilmut and colleagues at the Roslin Institue in Scotland successfully cloned Dolly the Sheep, by reprogramming an adult mammary gland cell into an embryo through a process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. The creation of an organism from an adult cell opened the door for a whole new variety of techniques and processes that have become essential to modern biology and genetics.

Dolly proved to the scientific community that a complete organism can be created from the genetic material obtained from ANYWHERE in the organism’s body. The basic method for “cloning” can be broken into three steps: 1. Obtain DNA that specifies the organism you wish to clone. 2. Transfer DNA into enucleated oocyte for reprogramming. 3. Transfer reprogrammed cell into surrogate mother for implantation and fetal development.

Bring Back the Dead: Consumer Cloning

What did I just say?! It’s not like you think, I swear. You cannot bring back your lost relatives. Even if you clone your dead loved ones, there is no way (currently) to recreate the memories and experiences that will have shaped the person that you once knew. So, even though the clone will look exactly alike, they are not the same person as your loved one. Also, when a cloning takes place, the person is “born” just like any other baby, and they must grow and mature just like any human being. There is currently no way of speeding up the process of growing up.

Is cloning publicly available? Yes. Not for humans. Congress, republicans and democrats alike, would have a field day with that one. However, commercial cloning is available for man’s best friend. Up until September of 2009, BioArts International offered commercial cloning of a pet cat or dog to niche consumers for the lofty price of $150,000. However, they recently closed their doors because of, among many reasons, competition from RNL Bio, a South Korean Stem Cell Company which has begun to offer the same service.

As explained by Lou Hawthorne, the CEO of BioArts International, the market size for cloned pets does not seem to be that large right now. However, it is still a developing technology, and one day it may be offered at the right price with the right market exposure. BioArts International, successfully cloned seven dogs for consumers throughout its product offering. The take home message: cloning is commercially available, although not popularized just yet.

Bring Back the Long Dead: Extinct Species

Jurassic Park was a visionary movie because it described a scientific process that was not yet possible at its time. However, we are closer now than ever to being able to bring back dead species. Let’s look at the Wooly Mammoth as a case study.

The Wooly Mammoth, also known as the tundra mammoth, is suspected to have vanished around 8,000 BCE likely due to the warming of their climate. Unlike many extinct species, the wooly mammoth remains have, in many cases, been organically preserved due to their frozen environment and the large size of the animal. Organic preservation has allowed scientists to study much of the mammoth DNA, and leads many to claim that cloning of the mammoth will one day be possible. Despite the preservation of dead mammoth, extracting the DNA and rebuilding the genome is an ongoing process.

How will this cloning occur? Scientists hope that they will be able to salvage whole cells of preserved mammoth DNA from frozen mammoth cells. While more recent attempts at this have not yielded completely salvageable genomes, many parts of the mammoth genome including the complete sequence of a mitochondrial DNA have been determined. From this information alone, it has been concluded that the wooly mammoth is more closely related to the Asian elephant than it is to the African elephant.

Who will be the surrogate mother of the wooly mammoth? The Asian elephant of course. Although the two species diverged several thousand years ago, it is suspected that the Wooly Mammoth and the Asian elephant are still genetically similar enough such that one can carry the offspring of another. Scientists at Penn State University believe they have mapped more than 50% of the mammoth genome. Once this is complete, reprogramming and surrogacy will likely allow for cloning.

When will we see this creature roaming the planet? Pretty soon I hope. We’ll be able to pay admission at Jurassic Park, which will likely be located on a remote island in Japan. Just remember to bring your shotgun!

Fantasy Becomes Reality: Creating Unicorns

Genetic engineering will not be limited to the cloning of dead dogs and the rebirth of extinct species. By attaining an understanding of the development of all species, one day, the creation of new species may be possible. Note: If you believe this counts as “playing God” then you should not be reading this blog.

The unicorn will be our case study here. What is a unicorn? Essentially, it is a white horse with a horn on its head. According to a survey of five year old girls, some unicorns have wings, and some have magical rainbows follow them. We’ll stick with a white horn for now.

We already know where to find white horses, but where do we find a horn? Thousands of creatures have horns: deer, antelope, some lizards. After doing some research, I have decided that the horn that best fits the description of the unicorn horn is the horn of a Narwhal. From here, we get the following equation:

White Horse + Narwhal = Unicorn

Okay, so how do we make this equation into reality? One answer: Get yourself a white horse, capture a narwhal, cut off the narwhal’s horn, and glue it onto the horse’s head! Simple. But not what we’re looking for.

Figuring out how to make a unicorn species will be difficult. It will require knowing exactly what set of genes contribute to the development of the narwhal horn, and exactly where these genes would be able to create a horn (in the proper location) for a unicorn. There will not simply be a copy and paste ability, but eventually through experimentation and trial and error, I believe that a unicorn species can be created which develops a horn on its own. Any horse can be the host species (for surrogacy) since the unicorn will be related enough genetically. This technology is a bit further in the future, but I believe it will be a possibility.

Once someone solves the unicorn, we can move onto other legendary creatures like cerberus, the sphinx, and all manners of chimera. Imagine a chihuahua with wings! It will be studies in genomics, cellular reprogramming, and developmental biology that will unlock pandora’s box and enable legendary creatures to be born.

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