Mammoth Genome Sequence May Explain Extinction

[Metopocetus]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081119/sc_nm/us_mammoth_genes

Researchers have sequenced the gene map of a long-extinct, mummified woolly mammoth, using DNA taken from its hair.

The sequence shows that mammoths were more closely related to modern, living elephants than previously thought, and they found some elements, such as evidence of inbreeding, that may shed light on why the giant creatures went extinct, the researchers reported on Wednesday.

[Guest Nicholas]

Great piece of news, I hope they actually put some of the genome code into print.. I'll frame it on my wall.

Next in line -- perhaps Neanderthals, said Michael Hofreiter of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Paleo-Anthropology here I come!

[mommabetts]

Nice article, it will be interesting to see what else they do.