WEBVTT - Could Frozen Zoo DNA Stave Off Species' Extinction?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb here. It might not surprise

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<v Speaker 1>you to hear that many wild animal populations are struggling.

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<v Speaker 1>At this point. Humans and the livestock that we grow

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<v Speaker 1>for food account for of mammal biomass on Earth. We

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<v Speaker 1>take up a lot of space with our bodies, livestock,

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<v Speaker 1>and infrastructure, and that's driving wild animals into extinction. But

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<v Speaker 1>we twenty one century humans are smart, right. Can't we

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<v Speaker 1>figure out a way to help these animals survive or

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<v Speaker 1>at least save some of their genetic material until such

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<v Speaker 1>a time when we can help make, for example, new

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<v Speaker 1>Sumatran tigers, of which there are only about four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>alive today in the wild. The concept of creating a

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<v Speaker 1>repository for the genetic material of endangered species has been

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<v Speaker 1>around for a while. Projects like the Frozen Zoo at

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<v Speaker 1>the San Diego Zoo and the Frozen Arc in the

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<v Speaker 1>UK have been cryogenically storing genetic material from captive mammals,

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<v Speaker 1>that is, raising it in liquid nitrogen at temperatures around

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<v Speaker 1>negative three degrees fahrenheit that's negative one celsius. Samples from

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<v Speaker 1>everything from the Pacific pocket mouse to the clouded leopard

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<v Speaker 1>have been stored since the nighties, and cloning endangered species

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<v Speaker 1>has proven possible. In the early two thousands, scientists successfully

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<v Speaker 1>cloned a couple of them, an African wildcat and an

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<v Speaker 1>Asian ox. But we spoke with Franklin West, an assistant

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<v Speaker 1>professor in the Regenerative Bioscience Center at the University of Georgia.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, the problem with cloning is it's highly inefficient.

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<v Speaker 1>The process is tricky even with animals that are well

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<v Speaker 1>understood and described, like housecats, dogs, horses, and cows. So

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<v Speaker 1>when you start talking about cloning endangered animal species, it

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<v Speaker 1>gets tough because we just don't have enough information about

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<v Speaker 1>the animal. Cloning also requires eggs from the animal you're

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<v Speaker 1>trying to clone, but obtaining gammeats, that is, sperm and

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<v Speaker 1>eggs from a live animal can be extremely difficult, especially

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<v Speaker 1>an endangered one. Sperm can be taken from a zoo

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<v Speaker 1>animal that has reads sly died, but eggs present the

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<v Speaker 1>real challenge, especially because as in human IVF treatments, the

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<v Speaker 1>best results often come from having lots of eggs available.

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<v Speaker 1>West said, most of the time it's too risky to

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<v Speaker 1>collect eggs because you need to superovulate the animal, and

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes there's a surgical procedure involved. With most endangered species,

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<v Speaker 1>the best you can get is a skin biopsy. But

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<v Speaker 1>skin is never going to turn into a new tiger,

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<v Speaker 1>so what do you do with that. It's almost of

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<v Speaker 1>limited value without some sort of functionalization of it, which

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<v Speaker 1>is why West and his colleagues have developed the technology

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<v Speaker 1>to turn almost any cell in the body there are

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<v Speaker 1>some exceptions, but very few, into a pluripotent stem cell,

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<v Speaker 1>which is a cell that can turn into any other

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<v Speaker 1>type of cell in the body. West and his colleagues

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<v Speaker 1>have had success in turning a skin cell into a

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<v Speaker 1>stem cell and turning those stem cells into sperm. West

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<v Speaker 1>says they could potentially even turn a stem cell into

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<v Speaker 1>an egg as well, which would get around to the

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<v Speaker 1>problem with cloning not having an egg source. If they

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<v Speaker 1>can use this assisted reproductive technology to make both of

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<v Speaker 1>these male and female gammeats, they could use them together

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<v Speaker 1>to make a live offspring. The team has begun by

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<v Speaker 1>banking skin cells from a Sumatran tiger and a clouded

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<v Speaker 1>leopard at Zoo Atlanta. West explained we could have done

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<v Speaker 1>cows or horses but we chose cats for a number

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<v Speaker 1>of reasons. The fact that we know a lot about

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<v Speaker 1>domestic housecat reproductive physiology makes it reasonable to do larger

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<v Speaker 1>cats like clouded leopards. Ultimately, what I'd like to do

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<v Speaker 1>is use domesticated cats as recipient animals. Theoretically, you could

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<v Speaker 1>transfer clouded leopard embryo into a housecat. In addition to

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<v Speaker 1>creating new animals, this technology might be useful in helping

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<v Speaker 1>protect vulnerable populations of animals from disease. For instance, the

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<v Speaker 1>lions in the Serengetti National Park have become vulnerable to

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<v Speaker 1>canine distemper, a disease related to measles and humans, which

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<v Speaker 1>is most commonly found in domesticated dogs. This technology could

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<v Speaker 1>potentially be used to generate distemper resistant lions. Because it's

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<v Speaker 1>almost impossible to vaccinate in the injured animals in mass

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<v Speaker 1>this might be an option to breed resistant animals that

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<v Speaker 1>could introduce resistance into natural populations. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Jesselyn Shields and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.

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<v Speaker 1>For more in this and lots of other futuristic topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com. And

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