https://about.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/2022/march/no-longer-science-fiction-$5m-gift-brings-de-extinction-of-the-thylacine-one-step-closer

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-australia-extinct-thylacine.html

https://theconversation.com/weve-decoded-the-numbat-genome-and-it-could-bring-the-thylacines-resurrection-a-step-closer-176528

Apparently, the thylacine genome has already been decoded, which is news to me.

Now funding has been approved to try to bring the thylacine back from the dead.

mollwollfumble said:

https://about.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/2022/march/no-longer-science-fiction-$5m-gift-brings-de-extinction-of-the-thylacine-one-step-closer

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-australia-extinct-thylacine.html

https://theconversation.com/weve-decoded-the-numbat-genome-and-it-could-bring-the-thylacines-resurrection-a-step-closer-176528

Apparently, the thylacine genome has already been decoded, which is news to me.

Now funding has been approved to try to bring the thylacine back from the dead.

The thylacine has several features that best qualify it to be brought back from the dead. One is that large sections of its home range remain untouched. A second it that it is a marsupial, and therefore born tiny, without the need for a host species that is both large and compatible.

The nine steps to bringing back Australia’s extinct thylacine

STEP 1:

The good news is that this step is complete. We’ve released the thylacine genome which is basically a complete genetic blueprint or set of instructions on how to build a thylacine. The thylacine represents the highest quality extinct genome for any species (and before you ask, yes, that includes the woolly mammoth and the dodo).

STEP 2:

This is another one the team have already completed. We now have the sequence for several species which represent the thylacine’s closest relatives. To provide the living cells and template genome that can then be edited to transform it into a thylacine genome.

STEP 3:

Compare marsupial genomes to identify all the differences that would potentially need to be edited into the hosts genome to create a ‘thylacine’ cell.

STEP 4:

Make stem cells. We have already made stem cells for the fat-tailed dunnart, from which a lot of the techniques needed for our thylacine de-extinction will be developed.

STEP 5 to 7:

Assisted reproductive technologies. Use living stem cells to make an embryo and then successfully transfer it into a host species’ uterus.

STEPS 8 TO 9:

Birth and bottle feeding.