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The research
conducted on Wrangel Island has two
chief objectives. The first was to recover material of mammoths
and other extinct species that lived on the island during
the Quaternary [the geologic period spanning the past 1.6 million years]. This objective was completed during the 1998
expedition. The second objective is to recover genetic information
from the bones for systematic and pathological studies.
Our ultimate goal is
to determine whether the "last of the mammoths" died out
from a killer plague or some other cause.
Although there have been several successful
attempts to recover mammoth DNA, the available database for
these extinct elephants is still small. Our research team
is currently attempting to amplify both mitochondrial and
nuclear DNA* from mammoth samples, including the material found
on Wrangel Island. Pathological studies are likely to be long-term,
as very little work has been done on recovering "ancient"
pathogenic genetic material.
* Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the primary genetic material of a cell. Mitochondrial DNA is located in small amounts in the mitochondria, which are organelles in the cellular cytoplasm. Nuclear DNA composes the chromosomes found in the cell's nucleus, and includes virtually all of the DNA in the cell. Both kinds of DNA provide information on the organism's genetic code, which differs in detail among organisms. In the case of the Wrangel Island mammoths, we are attempting first to find evidence of the presence of their own (or "host") DNA. If that turns out to be well-preserved, then we have some hope that we will be able to search for "contaminant" genetic material -- i.e., the genetic code of pathogenic organisms present in the mammoth's tissues when they died.
Origins
of Hyperdisease Hypothesis
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