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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/10/like-unscrambling-an-egg-scientists-alter-dna-to-save-scottish-wildcats>
"Scientists are preparing plans to restore the fortunes of Scotland’s
threatened Highland wildcats – by identifying and removing DNA they have
acquired from domestic cats.
Researchers have warned that the Highland tiger, as the wildcat is also known,
is critically endangered because it has bred so much with domestic moggies. All
animals now bear evidence of interbreeding, and many have little “wild” left in
them.
But by using modern genomics, scientists hope to reverse this process. Precise
DNA maps of individual animals would be created to pinpoint those with high
levels of wildcat genes. These will be bred with similarly endowed felines to
create a new population, unaffected by domestic cat hybridisation, that can
then be returned to the Scottish countryside.
“The process is known as de-introgression and it is the scientific equivalent
of trying to unscramble an egg,” said Dan Lawson of Bristol University, who is
the genomics leader for the project.
“We have animals with a mix of two sets of genes. Now we want to separate those
sets and recreate Scotland’s original wildcat population.
“It won’t be easy but the benefits will be considerable, not just for wildcats
but for other endangered species that are being swamped, genetically, by
similar animals.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
