Geneticists in Australia believe they are closer to resurrecting the extinct gastric-brooding frog. This after the team had successfully revived its genome in embryo form using the dead cell samples, in what has been named the “Lazarus Project.” Yes! Science!

We might be lucky enough to experience the joys of witnessing the amphibian give birth to its offspring by regurgitating them. After external fertilization by the male, the female would swallow the eggs, until giving birth through the female’s mouth again.

Professor Mike Archer, Lazarus Project team leader said:

We are watching Lazarus arise from the dead, step by exciting step. We’ve reactivated dead cells into living ones and revived the extinct frog’s genome in the process. Now we have fresh cryo preserved cells of the extinct frog to use in future cloning experiments.

The exciting news was announced at this year’s TedX DeExtinction conference. The team recovered cell nuclei from tissue collected in 1970 that was kept in a freezer. Researchers took donor eggs from a distantly related great barred frog and replaced their nuclei with the dead nuclei from the gastric-brooding frog.

The embryos of these altered cells only survived for a few days but researchers are able to confirm that the cells contained the gastric-brooding frog’s genetic material. Archer is confident that the only obstacle the team faces are “technological and biological.”

Archer said:

Importantly, we’ve demonstrated already the great promise this technology has as a conservation tool when hundreds of the world’s amphibian species are in catastrophic decline.

Some are on the other side of the fence to Archer, being fearful of science messing with the natural process.

Some argue that cloning extinct species challenges the basis of natural selection and could detract from conservation projects in the future; if we think we can resurrect an endangered species, we might stop funding charities that tackle the heart of the problem — the destruction of their natural habitat and, as a consequence, their food supply.

[Source: Wired, ABC News]