Scientists at Penn State are leaders of a team that is the first to report the genome-wide sequence of the woolly mammoth, an extinct species of elephant that was adapted to living in the cold environment of the northern hemisphere. The results have yielded information about the evolution of the three known elephant species: the modern-day African and Indian elephants and the woolly mammoth. The team, which is led by biologists Stephan Schuster and Webb Miller, hopes that lessons learned from the mammoth genome about why some animals go extinct while others do not will be useful in protecting other species from extinction, such as the Tasmanian devil, whose survival is threatened by a deadly facial cancer. In addition, the team said that by deciphering the mammoth's genome, other researchers could, in theory, bring the woolly mammoth back to life by inserting the uniquely mammoth DNA sequences into the genome of the modern-day elephant.
Read the full press release about this study.
Listen to an NPR story featuring this research.
Read a story about this research in the New York Times.
Read a story about this research in BBC News.
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