article_snippet: A huge step towards recreating the woolly mammoth has been taken by scientists who inserted more than a dozen of Russia genes into the live DNA of an elephant.
article_snippet: Researchers studied the structure of DNA from mammoths preserved in the Arctic to reproduce exact copies of 14 of the extinct animal’s genes.
article_snippet: exact copies of 14 of the extinct animal’s genes were then integrated by experts at Harvard University in Massachusetts into an elephant genome - and functioned as normal DNA.
article_snippet: Researchers studied the structure of DNA from woolly mammoths (file illustration) preserved in the Arctic the Arctic to reproduce exact copies of 14 of the extinct animal’s genes .
article_snippet: A new method known as 'Crispr' - helping scientists make accurate changes to DNA - was used by genetics professor George Church, who replaced parts of elephant DNA with the mammoth genes.
article_snippet: ‘We prioritised genes associated with cold resistance including hairiness, ear size, subcutaneous fat and, especially, haemoglobin (the protein that carries oxygen around the body).
article_snippet: We now have functioning elephant cells with mammoth DNA in De-extinction’ enthusiast Mr Church, who was speaking to The Sunday Times science editor Jonathan Leake.