The Genetic Ark

I came across the question today, "Can we collect the genetic infromation of endangered species now and bring them back at a later date?"



The process of storing tissue and extracting genetic information from it at a later date is a pretty standard operation. In laboratories all across the globe there are freezers containing tissue samples of alls sorts of things. A simple internet search will give you a protocol on how to extract DNA from many tissue types using chemicals found in your local biology lab. These samples can last for years. And as those years go by the cost of sequencing genomes will drop dramatically, thus making it technically feasible to deep freeze a big chunk of endangered animal now and sequence its genome at a later date. Furthermore, after the field of genetics, evolution, and developmental biology mature we should be able to use that information to rebuild the now extinct animal from scratch and enjoy them forever and ever right?

Well technically yes, but realistically probably not.

There are two types of endangered species around we try to keep around. The first are the sexy ones. We want to keep these guys around because they are exciting to be around, beautiful to watch, and we feel guilty for killing them off in the first place. The second type are the many species being killed off, especially in places like the rainforest, that have a lot of potential to provide cures to disease and other things of value to the human condition. Each type has a reason it does not make sense to bring it back in the future, even if we preserve them with that intent.

The reason we will not bring back the first type is because the same problems that exist for them now will exist for them in the future. No species on the endangered list is there because we don’t like it or don’t need it, it is there because of habitat destruction. Humans are already destroying or invading much of the territory that endangered species rely on. We continue to do this as we watch them go extinct. There is no reason to believe that anytime in the future humanity will decide to let an region revert back to its “native” state. If we bring them back where will we put them. They will have no habitat to live in. We will put them in zoo’s much like they are now.

The second type, if preserved, will have great reason to be brought back in full or at least the useful parts but there is different problem. Many species that are going extinct that have potential to be useful are simply not known. We know they are going extinct through statistics. The species diversity per land mass is so high and we are destroying so much land mass that it can be determined that we are losing many unaccounted for species. If we have not characterized them yet, there is no way we can freeze them away for later. They are gone before we know what they are or how to preserve them.