CLONING EXTINCT BEASTS IS A MAMMOTH TASK

摘要

The flashiest - and perhaps the most speculative - use of ancient-DNA research might be to clone extinct beasts like the woolly mammoth. Ancient epigenetic signatures could help. Sequencing ancient DNA is only part of the challenge. To assemble a functional genome, researchers also need to replicate the ancient epigenetic packaging, which influences exactly how the genes are expressed during the development of an embryo.