Undergraduate Seminar

1. De-extinction,
should we?
Undergraduate Seminar
Jay Edneil Olivar
“Gone” by Isabella Kirkland

2. Passenger Pigeon
STATUS: Extinct

3. Golden Toad
STATUS: Extinct

4. Cuban Begonia
STATUS: Extinct
Tree Snail
STATUS: Extinct

5. Thylacine
Thylacinus cynocephalus
STATUS: Extinct

6. http://www.naturalworlds.org
/thylacine/history/history.htm

9. Common thread?
Humans FORCED them
to EXTINCTION
WWF global ESTIMATES that at
LEAST 10,000 species go
EXTINCT every year

10. Probable Reason for
Extinction
• Paul Martin, an
American
anthropologist, pointed
out that MEGAFAUNAL
EXTINCTIONS were due
to the introduction of
HUNTING and
DOMESTICATION
TECHNIQUES by our
early ancestors
• OVERKILL Hypothesis

11. De-extinction
process by which humans
GENETICALLY ENGINEER
embryos of extant species to
hopefully bring back extinct
relatives

12. Revival Criteria

13. http://longnow.org/revive/candidates/

14. De-extinction: History

15. Karyoplast from
skin biopsy
SB
Revival
Bucardo
Spanish Ibex
De-extinction: Bucardo

16. First ever revived species by
Folch et al. 2003

17. SB
Gastric-Brooding Frog
Great Barred Frog
De-extinction: Gastric-brooding Frog
Embryos grown
in medium

18. Results
Bucardo Gastric-Brooding Frog
Only one female Spanish
Ibex got pregnant
Life span of revived
bucardo was 7 minutes;
Died because of lung
defects
Embryo’s average life span
is 10 days
Genetically IDENTICAL to the extinct species

19. MAGE System
Multiplex Automated
Genome Engineering
System

21. A
B
C

22. A. Genomes to Cells
Assembly of
the passenger
pigeon
genome
Comparison of the
assembled
genome with the
extant relative’s
genome
MAGE System

23. B. Cells to a Bird
Creation of
passenger pigeon
stem cells
Insertion of germ
cells to rock
pigeon eggs

24. C. A bird to a flock
Breeding of Chimeras

25. Where are we now?
• Part A (Genomes to Cell)

26. Are we playing God?
“Did we play God when we
drove these species to
extinction?”
“It was ENTIRELY human
efforts that made them
extinct.”

27. Are we playing God?
“Humans have made a HUGE
hole in nature…We could
consider bringing them back
to a world that MISSES them.”
“What I think is important is that, if it's
clear that we exterminated these
species, then I think we not only have a
MORAL OBLIGATION to see what we
can do about it, but I think we've got a
MORAL IMPERATIVE to try to do
something, if we can.”

28. What are we going to do with the
revived species?

29. Are the revived species really
authentic?

30. De-extinction,
should we?

33. http://longnow.org/revive