Duck fathers chicken
Published: 2013 March 25 20:45:56 (5811 Views)
It looks like a chicken and acts like a chicken – but the father of a fledgling bred by scientists is actually a duck.
Researchers have successfully used one species to produce another using a pioneering technique that could one day help bring extinct animals back to life.
A male duck embryo was injected with germ cells from a chicken – giving it the DNA needed to produce the same sperm as a rooster. Once the duck grew, it was able to breed with a hen to create a chick.
The same technique may one day be used to breed threatened bird types like eagles, hawks or songbirds – or those that have been wiped out of existence.
Mike McGrew, a scientist working with the team behind the breakthrough at Dubai’s Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, said it could be used to ‘propagate endangered species or potentially bring back an extinct one’ – rather than just helping produce more fertile hens to boost the global poultry industry.
The idea of reviving lost species from extinction has until now seemed pure science fiction, made popular by books and films such as Jurassic Park, in which dinosaurs were bred in a laboratory millions of years after they disappeared from the planet.
However, researchers have already created genetically-modified chickens that prevent the spread of bird flu, as well as Dolly the sheep - the world’s first cloned mammal.
- Metro
Researchers have successfully used one species to produce another using a pioneering technique that could one day help bring extinct animals back to life.
A male duck embryo was injected with germ cells from a chicken – giving it the DNA needed to produce the same sperm as a rooster. Once the duck grew, it was able to breed with a hen to create a chick.
The same technique may one day be used to breed threatened bird types like eagles, hawks or songbirds – or those that have been wiped out of existence.
Mike McGrew, a scientist working with the team behind the breakthrough at Dubai’s Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, said it could be used to ‘propagate endangered species or potentially bring back an extinct one’ – rather than just helping produce more fertile hens to boost the global poultry industry.
The idea of reviving lost species from extinction has until now seemed pure science fiction, made popular by books and films such as Jurassic Park, in which dinosaurs were bred in a laboratory millions of years after they disappeared from the planet.
However, researchers have already created genetically-modified chickens that prevent the spread of bird flu, as well as Dolly the sheep - the world’s first cloned mammal.
- Metro
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