Tiger + mouse = functional gene

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The team, led by Dr Andrew Pask from the university's Department of Zoology in association with colleagues from the University of Texas, have shown that the thylacine Col2a1 gene has a similar function in developing cartilage and bone development as the Col2a1 gene does in the mouse.

The results were reported in PLoS ONE today.

"This is the first time that DNA from an extinct species has been used to induce a functional response in another living organism," Pask said.

"As more and more species of animals become extinct, we are continuing to lose critical knowledge of gene function and their potential.

"Up until now we have only been able to examine gene sequences from extinct animals. This research was developed to go one step further to examine extinct gene function in a whole organism."

The last known Tasmanian tiger died in captivity in the Hobart Zoo in 1936. Fortunately, some thylacine pouch young and adult tissues were preserved in alcohol in several museum collections around the world.

The research team used thylacine specimens from Museum Victoria to examine how the thylacine genome functioned.

They isolated DNA from 100-year-old ethanol fixed specimens. After authenticating this DNA as truly thylacine, it was inserted into mouse embryos and its function examined.

The thylacine DNA was resurrected, showing a function in the developing mouse cartilage, which will later form the bone.

"At a time when extinction rates are increasing at an alarming rate, especially of mammals, this research discovery is critical," senior author Professor Marilyn Renfree of the University of Melbourne Department of Zoology, said.

"For those species that have already become extinct, our method shows that access to their genetic biodiversity may not be completely lost."