Kurosaurs or dinokurs?
Paleontologist Jack Horner: "In 5 years we will have a living dinosaur"
Jack Horner from the University of Montana radically changed our ideas about dinosaurs, proving that they were social animals, and also inspired Spielberg for the film "Jurassic Park," writes journalist Jose Manuel Nieves.
However, in an interview with the newspaper, Horner first assured that everything would not be like in the movies. "We will take the chicken embryo as a starting point and use genetic engineering methods to make it go back to the past until we "pull out" the dinosaur that lurks inside it. Initially, it will not be quite a dinosaur, but a creature that has many of its features," the scientist said.
Actually, it will turn out to be a completely new animal, Horner stressed: "So to speak, "kurosaurus". Or "dinokur", as you prefer. But his physical features will largely be the same as those peculiar to dinosaurs." Size, teeth, claws, the scientist listed.
Why was the chicken chosen out of all the birds? "Firstly, we know its genome by heart, and secondly, chickens are probably the most common of all birds," Horner replied. The DNA of real dinosaurs cannot be obtained either from amber or from fossils, which means that we will have to do with the DNA of direct descendants of dinosaurs – modern birds, the publication says.
What do the scientists intend to do? "It won't be a genetic modification. We intend to awaken atavistic genes in the DNA of birds and make them reappear," Horner said. First you need to identify specific genes in the chicken genome and change the level of certain regulatory proteins. "At the first stages, a chicken embryo develops dinosaur features: teeth, paws with three fingers," the scientist recalled. The gene responsible for the presence or absence of teeth has already been found.
What will "kurosaurus" look like? – the journalist asked. "A chicken with teeth and claws is, however, at the moment no bigger than the current chickens," Horner said. According to his forecasts, success will be achieved in 5-7 years.
Such studies are very valuable for medicine and understanding of evolutionary mechanisms, the scientist noted. According to Horner, they are inexpensive: "A couple of million dollars is very cheap for big science.
You can read more about this not entirely crazy idea in Horner's book
How to Build a Dinosaur: The New Science of Reverse Evolution – VM.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru08.11.2012