Ryan Phelan, who pioneered direct-to-consumer genetic testing by founding DNA Direct in 2005, has taken on a new challenge — resurrecting extinct species via genetic technologies. As executive director of Revive and Restore, Phelan is leading an effort to "de-extinct" species, starting with the passenger pigeon.
The group's website says that rapid advances in genomic technology now make it "feasible to reconstitute the genomes of vanished species in living form, using genetic material from preserved specimens and archaeological artifacts."
This capability could change the meaning of extinction, the group says, noting that a species should not be considered completely extinct "until we know there is no way to discover or deduce its full genome."
In an interview posted at Edge.org, Phelan says the effort grew out of her work with George Church and the Personal Genome Project. "Right now, George's approach of basically editing the genome starts to make the concept of bringing something back really plausible," she says.
Using genome editing, researchers can compare the genome of the extinct species to its most closely related living species "and basically gene by gene match it, and edit it accordingly."
In the case of the passenger pigeon, researchers at Harvard are currently sequencing the genome of the band-tailed pigeon. "Then they will basically edit the band-tail genome until the band-tail walks, and talks, and flies like a passenger pigeon," Phelan says.
Of course there are myriad ethical questions surrounding this work. As a post in the Atlantic notes, reintroducing vanished species "could, theoretically, disrupt how the ecosystem functions today. With so many variables, it's difficult for scientists to anticipate all of the consequences."
Phelan acknowledges the complexities of the project, noting that one of its "fundamental questions" is whether extinction is "nature's way," and if it is, then "who in the world says anyone should go about changing nature's way? If something was meant to go extinct, then who are we to screw around with it and bring it back?"
She argues, however, that most extinction "is 99.9 percent caused by man," and if that's the case, "do we have a little bit of responsibility to think about bringing it back now that we have science that can easily allow for it?"
Watch out for the Frog DNA
Watch out for the Frog DNA
"...most extinction "is 99.9
"...most extinction "is 99.9 percent caused by man...'"
That sounds like an evidence-based assertion.
Lady, Put down the
Lady,
Put down the pipette...and walk away. Don't look back, either.
Sequencing the complete
Sequencing the complete genome of the passenger pigeon will be relatively straightforward if sufficient tissue samples can be procured, but the site-directed mutagenesis of the genome of a living pigeon relative to convert it into a passenger pigeon is just too expensive and time-consuming to be worthwhile.
The restoration of extinct life forms raises even deeper ethical issues. Over 99% of the species that have graced our planet have come and gone as part of the natural evolutionary process. However, in recent times primarily due to human activity as much as 40% of the estimated 10 million species living today are facing potential extinction. Human decimation of the wild habitat on land and over-fishing and pollution of the oceans and lakes has apparently increased the natural rate of species extinction in the order of 500-fold. Careful consideration needs to be given as to which species should be re-incarnated and whether this should be undertaken at all. Perhaps it would be better to focus on taking better care of the species that are on the brink of extinction but still here.
To contemplate rehabilitation of ecosystems, keystone species would probably have to be given priority. Interestingly, this is likely to be predators as these maintain the balance in nature to weed out the sick and weak and prevent over-grazing. The passenger pigeon, sadly, would not be a very strong contender.