
Saving the last samples of dying species - frgtpsswrdlame
https://qz.com/1007400/the-botanists-last-stand-the-daring-work-of-saving-the-last-samples-of-dying-species/
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lightedman
I'm utterly surprised they're not trying to actively clone these plant
species.

Might as well get usable DNA out of them now before they disappear to the
ravages of time.

That's how we do it at the State citrus park here in SoCal.

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whyenot
We have gotten pretty good at getting DNA from dried samples (for example
herbarium sheets).

Cloning doesn't always work. You might be able to get to a callus
(undifferentiated mass of cells), but moving from that point to a something
that looks like a plant, with roots and leaves and that can grow in soil
requires a lot of trial and error. Also money; field botany gets almost no
grant money. In fact, the NSF just recently decided to end dissertation
improvement grants for most areas of field biology.

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lightedman
"We have gotten pretty good at getting DNA from dried samples (for example
herbarium sheets)."

Best DNA comes from before about 500 years of age. After that, degradation is
pretty bad, and while we can get an idea of what it once was, we cannot
currently perfectly reproduce it.

