Woolly mammoth genome sequenced

An international team of researchers have successfully sequenced the genome of woolly mammoths who lived in Siberia 45,000 years ago.

This discovery means that recreating extinct species is a much more real possibility, one we could in theory realize within decades,” says evolutionary geneticist Hendrik Poinar, director of the Ancient DNA Centre at McMaster University and a researcher at the Institute for Infectious Disease Research, the senior Canadian scientist on the project.

“With a complete genome and this kind of data, we can now begin to understand what made a mammoth a mammoth—when compared to an elephant—and some of the underlying causes of their extinction which is an exceptionally difficult and complex puzzle to solve,” he says.

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Story: Michelle Donovan, McMaster University | Photo: Debi Poinar