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Scientists May Be Able to Clone Extinct Tasmanian Tiger

Aired May 29, 2002 - 14:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Through the wonder of modern science, an extinct species may one day walk the earth again. Gordon Robison takes a closer look at how and why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GORDON ROBISON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It isn't exactly "Jurassic Park," but the principle is similar. The last-known Tasmanian tiger died in 1936 and the species was officially declared extinct 16 years ago. But scientists at the Australia museum say they may be able to change that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a miracle in the first place to find the DNA. It was a double miracle to find out that the DNA was sufficiently well-preserved to respond to PCI. And in fact, they worked extremely hard. At first it didn't work. It was one of these classic try, try and try again things.

ROBISON: Yes, preserved DNA. Some comes from this tiger fetus, preserved since 1860. That's right, 1860. But the fetus is female and Archer says some of the necessary genetic structure occurs only in males. The breakthrough came when two scientists figured out how to extract the missing male DNA from tiger pelts at the museum.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can tell you what, there was a lot of celebrations in the Australian Museum. We were delighted. It is a big breakthrough and we're very excited.

ROBISON: Archer stresses that this is only a first step. The museum has replicated only some of the Tasmanian tiger's genes. A much larger stock of genes and sequencing sections from the tiger's genome were needed before cloning can begin.

Archer says that if all goes well, a Tasmanian tiger could successfully be cloned in perhaps ten years. Gordon Robison, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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