Woolly Mammoth Genome Sequence May Bring Beast Alive

The DNA of the extinct woolly mammoth, a relative of the elephant that roamed northern climes thousands of years ago, has been mostly deciphered in a scientific effort that could lead one day to recreating a live copy of the beast.

About four-fifths of the extinct mammoth's DNA will be published tomorrow in the journal Nature, said Stephan Schuster, a professor of microbial ecology at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who leads the project. The rest hasn't been analyzed because the creature's genome is longer than scientists had anticipated, he said.

DNA is the chemical code for making organisms, and having the mammoth's genome might some day allow scientists to recreate it with sophisticated genetic techniques, Schuster said. The project has halted, however, because $1 million in funding has already been exhausted and animal's genome is at least one-third bigger than scientists thought it would be, he said.

``We hope that this study generates enough excitement to show that the project ought to be brought to a proper end,'' he said yesterday in a telephone interview. ``It's only a matter of money and time.''

The market for genetic analysis may grow as prices for equipment and supplies drop, and applications in research and medicine increase, analysts have said. Roche Holding AG, Illumina Inc., Helicos BioSciences Corp., and Danaher Corp. make systems to sequence DNA. Invitrogen Corp. is scheduled to complete its $6.7 billion purchase of sequencer maker Applied Biosystems Inc. Nov. 21. Invitrogen executives said in June that they made the offer because of the potential market for cheap genomic analysis.

Resurrecting the Mammoth

A full mammoth genome would raise the possibility of resurrecting the species through genetic experimentation, he said. That would involve making about 400,000 changes in 20,000 genes in a modern elephant's DNA, and implanting an altered embryo in an elephant to develop, he said.

``A lot of what would be needed is already on hand,'' Schuster said. ``There's only this gap in the knowledge of the mammoth genome that's missing.''

The human genome, which was fully decoded in 2003 in a $2.3 billion project, is made up 3 billion pairs of chemicals, called bases, that carry the instructions cells use to make proteins, tissues and organs. Scientists thought the elephant genome would be roughly the same size, Schuster said; they were wrong.

Hair Better for DNA Analysis

The woolly mammoth genome and that of the elephant are each about 4 billion base pairs long. The length of the genome has further complicated the project, which used DNA from mammoth hair rather than cells. The nuclei of the mammoth cells, which contain DNA, have been too badly degraded to use in the project, Schuster said.

The findings, while partial, allow researchers to ```see' evolution of genes under selection in real time by accessing genetic information from historical and ancient samples,'' said Jeremy Austin, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide, in a statement.

A comparison with the modern elephants shows that the species evolved just half as quickly as large primates, which include gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans, Schuster said.

``Humans probably evolved faster because until about 100,000 years ago, they were prime prey for leopards, lions and tigers,'' he said. ``Elephants and mammoths didn't have to worry about getting chewed up by a big cat, and didn't have to change as quickly.''

Penn State University, Roche, and a private donor provided the $1 million to begin the project. Schuster estimated it would take another $1 million to $2 million to finish it with complete accuracy.