Jurassic Park’s premise of reviving dinosaurs through DNA extraction from ancient mosquitoes preserved in amber is scientifically inaccurate. Recovering truly ancient DNA is still debated, and filling gaps in dinosaur DNA with frog DNA and finding a suitable egg for injection pose further challenges. However, biotech advances have made some reconsider the possibility. Recently extinct species like mammoths and Neanderthals are more likely to be revived before dinosaurs.
The 1993 film Jurassic Park was the highest-grossing film in the world at the time of its release, grossing more than $914 million (US dollars). The premise of the film is that scientists were able to revive dinosaurs by extracting their DNA from the intestines of ancient mosquitoes preserved in amber. The dinosaur DNA fragments are amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the blanks are filled with frog DNA, and the repaired genome is then injected into an ostrich egg and carried to term in an artificial womb. Ever since the movie came out, curious people have been asking, “Could this really be possible?”
Often, when a biologist is questioned about the viability of Jurassic Park, he becomes intellectually stuck on one of several scientific inaccuracies in the dinosaur revival scheme, using this as justification to dismiss the possibility, even in principle or after centuries of scientific progress. Despite these inaccuracies, there is a substantial possibility that a dinosaur revival might actually be possible, even if it would necessarily involve advanced biotechnology—biotechnology several decades more advanced than today, at least. However, biotech advances between 1993 and today have already caused some early Jurassic Park doubters to think twice before condemning the possibility.
There are numerous cases of fiction glossed over in the biotech scenario presented in Jurassic Park. We separate truth from fiction. First of all, isolating ancient DNA from long-dead organisms trapped in amber is entirely possible. However, there is great disagreement about the possibility of recovering authentic DNA from samples older than about a million years. In the early 1990s, ancient DNA was reported to have been recovered from stingless bees, termites, weevils, a dinosaur, plants and bacteria dating back to 80-million-year-old specimens from the Cretaceous era. Unfortunately, a subsequent critical review found that these claims were all very tenuous and that, apart from two highly controversial cases of the recovery of 300-million-year-old bacterial DNA from rock salt, DNA much older than a million years has ever been successfully recovered and amplified. The DNA from the dinosaur turned out to be a human Y chromosome, introduced into the sample via contamination.
There is still great disagreement as to whether the recovery of truly ancient DNA is possible. Whether it is or not, it has been confirmed that newer DNA, including DNA from Neanderthals and mammoths, has indeed been recovered. There are, however, further problems with Jurassic Park’s scenery. Filling the gaps in dinosaur DNA with frog DNA is likely to be extremely difficult, if possible. One would need to know which frog genes are homologous with which dinosaur genes, which would likely require a huge amount of dinosaur DNA fragments and sequencing data. Insert the wrong genes and the animal may not even grow beyond the embryonic stage.
The third major challenge with the Jurassic Park approach is getting a suitable egg for injection of the artificial dinosaur gamete. An ostrich egg wouldn’t work. Instead, an egg of the exact same species would be required. This could theoretically be synthesized from the original genetic material, but that would be difficult. This challenge is not addressed in Jurassic Park, but it is glossed over.
If the three main challenges listed (DNA recovery, genome repair, synthetic egg of the same species) can be overcome, then a Jurassic Park scenario could become possible in real life. Until then, science will carry on as usual. In any case, recently extinct species, such as mammoths and Neanderthals, are much more likely to come back to life before any dinosaurs.
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