Using frozen cells stored at the San Diego Zoo, researchers have made induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from two species teetering on the brink of extinction: an African primate called a drill and the northern white rhinoceros. The study, published today (September 4) in Nature Methods, is the first to tap into the potential of iPSCs for the conservation of endangered species.
“It is one means of capturing a genome in a way that is reproducible and will allow you to study tissue development maybe long after the animal is gone,” said George Daley, a professor at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, who was not part of this study. “Whether or not this can assist in reproduction is somewhat more speculative, and that may or may not ever pan out.”
Induced pluripotent stem cells are created by reprogramming somatic cells. In this case, researchers started with frozen fibroblasts, ...
