Ancient Bacteria Reveal clues to Mammoth Extinction, Offer Hope for “De-Extinction” Efforts
By Rachel Kim, World-Today-News.com – June 27, 2024
For years, scientists have puzzled over theโข extinction โof the mammoth – a creature that roamed โคthe Earth alongside early human civilizations.โ Now, a groundbreaking new study โฃpublished today in Cell โ reveals a โคsurprising piece of the puzzle: the ancient bacteria that lived within these colossal animals.
Researchers โฃhave successfully extracted and analyzed DNA from the microbiome of โmammoths dating back as far as โข1.1 million years,a feat pushing the โboundaries of โpaleogenetic research. The analysis of 483 mammoth remains -โ primarily teeth, but also tusks and bones – uncovered genetic material from โsix groups of bacteria, someโข wihtโ the potential toโข cause serious infections.This isn’t โฃjust โขaโข past curiosity.Understanding the relationship between mammoths and their microbiome โคcould be key to unlocking the mystery of their extinction.Were these ancient creatures felled by internal infections? orโ did โขtheir microbiome playโข a role โin their adaptation to, โขand โขeventualโฃ inability to survive, a โchanging climate?
“This work opens โขa new chapter in our understanding of extinct species,” says lead researcher โLove Dalรฉn, a leading expert in mammoth genetics. “Now we can not only