Extinct frog brought back to life
24 Nov 2013 6:27 AM IST
A science project to bring back an extinct species of frog famous for giving birth out of its mouth has been named one of the best inventions of 2013. The Lazarus project, run by the University of Newcastle, Australia, revived the genomes of an extinct Australian frog using sophisticated cloning technology to implant a ‘dead’ cell nucleus into a fresh egg from another frog species.
It was named as one of Time Magazine’s 25 Best Inventions of the Year because it managed to resurrect the gastric-brooding frog, albeit for a short period of time.
The Rheobatrachus silus, a species of frog which became extinct in 1983, was unique in that it swallowed its eggs and gave birth orally. Scientists in the team managed to extract cell nuclei from tissues recovered in the 1970s, which had been stored for 40 years in a conventional deep freezer.
Their ‘de-extinction’ project aimed to bring the frog back to life and results were published in March this year. In repeated experiments over five years, the researchers used a laboratory technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer.
They took fresh donor eggs from the distantly related great barred frog, Mixophyes fasciolatus, inactivated the egg nuclei and replaced them with dead nuclei from the extinct frog. Some of the eggs began spontaneously dividing and growing to early embryo stage.
It was named as one of Time Magazine’s 25 Best Inventions of the Year because it managed to resurrect the gastric-brooding frog, albeit for a short period of time.
The Rheobatrachus silus, a species of frog which became extinct in 1983, was unique in that it swallowed its eggs and gave birth orally. Scientists in the team managed to extract cell nuclei from tissues recovered in the 1970s, which had been stored for 40 years in a conventional deep freezer.
Their ‘de-extinction’ project aimed to bring the frog back to life and results were published in March this year. In repeated experiments over five years, the researchers used a laboratory technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer.
They took fresh donor eggs from the distantly related great barred frog, Mixophyes fasciolatus, inactivated the egg nuclei and replaced them with dead nuclei from the extinct frog. Some of the eggs began spontaneously dividing and growing to early embryo stage.
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