Extinct animals back to life?

I have just finished reading a novel entitled ’Sector C’ by Phoenix Sullivan. It is one among a collection of 7 novels that I recently purchased on Amazon.com at a ridiculous price of $0.99…..for all 7 novels!!

Being a voracious and avid reader of novels Amazon.com has proved to be a revelation to me and with a Kindle app that I downloaded on my tablet sometime back this has got to be the best thing that happened in the digitization of books.

But this is not about Amazon.com or the many books that I have purchased online at a fraction of what it would cost at a bookshop, but about ‘Sector C’ a novel unlike any that I have ever read since it is in a genre that I usually would not be interested in since it is set in the future (sci-fi), contains a hint of romance and on a subject matter that I have the least interest in generally - genetics! I guess when you buy a collection of books together like in this case for $0.99; you inevitably also purchase something you may not necessary have an interest in.

But of the novels that I have so far read in the 7, ‘Sector C’ is the most intriguing. It is a story set in the indeterminable future where a bioengineering company sets up a laboratory and facilities somewhere in rural USA where they have somehow managed to extract the DNA of long extinct wooly mammoths, sabre toothed tigers, short faced bears, wolves and other creatures that have been extinct for many hundreds of years and through a genetic process have been able to extract the cells of these creatures and then through in vitro fertilization have formed a zygote which they have then implanted into surrogate mother animals who have then delivered after full term pregnancies living mammoths, sabre toothed tigers, wolves etc that now roam in large enclosures within the company’s land. Fascinating stuff you will agree.

But to me that is not the exciting bit because in the process, they have also replicated a protein embedded in the genes and DNA of the animals being ‘reborn’ that was (in the novel) the probable cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs millions of years ago and this protein is now able to jump across species very quickly (unlike most viruses and bacteria that do not jump between species) and is now manifesting itself in cows, pigs, sheep, dogs, cats and humans infecting and killing all as there is no cure to this protein which is likened to ‘mad cow’ disease and the ‘avian flu’ that a few years ago wreaked havoc in the beef and poultry industry across the world.

The unfolding scenario where a state of emergency is declared in the affected states, a quarantine is imposed on travel to and from the affected places, people are urged to destroy all meat and poultry products and the National Guard is called out to keep the peace as well as to destroy and ensure the burial of all livestock, dogs, cats, rats, deer etc – millions and millions of animals - and the ensuing panic as people scramble to look out for their lives and those of their loved ones in this pandemic makes for a mesmerizing read!!

The interesting and scary thing to me, is this beyond the realms of possibility? Is it possible for extinct animals to be brought back to life through extracting their DNA and then through in vitro fertilization giving life to living breathing dinosaurs and other creatures? Would such a feat also give rise to possible revival of long dormant strains of diseases now awakened through the DNA of these long extinct creatures for which no known cure exists?

In September 2012 a specimen of a wooly mammoth baby was discovered perfectly preserved in the permafrost somewhere in the Siberian tundra. Scientists and paleontologists have heralded this as a breakthrough in their quest to discover the genetic make-up of the now extinct animals and possible clues as to how they became extinct amongst other things and then clone it into a living breathing animal ‘Jurassic Park’ style. With improved scientific methodologies and technologies available now this should be possible, given that Dolly the sheep cloned in 1996 lived a hale and hearty life as did many other different animals cloned in the last 50 years or so.

Shall I live to see a living breathing wooly mammoth, dinosaur or sabre toothed tiger in my lifetime? Possibly given the advances in science that I mention and the very real scenario painted in the novel “Sector C”.

Cloning has been successfully done many times with varying degrees of success so why not this time around with the wooly mammoth though fooling around with nature would not necessarily be a very wise thing to do!