Cloning May Bring Extinct Tasmanian Tiger to Life

SYDNEY, Australia, May 28, 2002 (ENS) - The last Tasmanian tiger died in captivity in 1936, but biologists at the Australian Museum are working to bring the species back by cloning.

The Evolutionary Biology Unit at the Australian Museum in Sydney announced today that a scientific team has replicated individual Tasmanian tiger genes using a process known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Australian Museum Director Mike Archer contemplates preserved Tasmanian tiger pup. Australian Museum)

At one time the Tasmanian tiger was widespread over continental Australia, extending north to Papua New Guinea and south to Tasmania. In the 20th century, it was seen only in Tasmania, but there have been no documented sightings for more than 50 years.

In 1999, DNA was extracted from a Tasmanian tiger pup sample preserved in ethanol. Additional DNA was extracted from two other individual pups in 2001. These other tissue sources included bone, tooth, bone marrow and dried muscle.

These polymerase chain reactions amplify millions of copies of the gene being studied. The PCRs show that short fragments of the DNA are undamaged and are in fact Tasmanian tiger DNA. Researchers say there is no reason why these should not work in a living cell.

Professor Mike Archer, director of the Australian Museum, is delighted with the progress of the cloning project. “This technique was an extremely critical step in producing sufficient amounts of Tasmanian tiger DNA to proceed with the research and extremely good news for future steps in accomplishing this project.”

Researchers will now attempt to make large quantity copies of all the genes of the Tasmanian tiger so these can be used to construct synthetic chromosomes.

Tasmanian tiger (Photo from "The Book of the Animal Kingdom," Westell 1910 courtesy Australian Museum)

These new discoveries and the story of the Museum’s ongoing effort to clone an extinct species have been exclusively documented by the Discovery Channel in "End of Extinction: Cloning the Tasmanian Tiger." The program will be broadcast in 155 countries worldwide on July 7.

The latest breakthrough in the cloning project and a preview of select footage from Discovery Channel’s film was shown to reporters today at the Royal Botanic Gardens Restaurant in Sydney.

“What Professor Mike Archer and his team are attempting is as scientifically exciting and technically challenging as splitting the atom or landing a man on the moon,” said James Gibbons, vice president programming, Discovery Networks Asia.

The Discovery Channel film features never before seen footage of a Tasmanian Tiger as well as state-of-the-art computer generated imagery and animatronic technology.

The film includes footage of the extraction of Tasmanian tiger tissue, the processing of the DNA and the next steps of the genetic engineering which could make cloning the Tasmanian tiger a reality.