#White rhinoceros extinct skin#

However, when the scientists first attempted to convert the rhino cells to a naïve-like state, the cells died. Experiments with stem cells generated from mice show that they are particularly good at producing germline cells when converting from the primed to the naïve-like state. Cells in the latter state are thought to have reached a slightly more advanced stage of embryonic development. IPS cells have different states: they can be naïve - the 'ground state' of pluripotency - or primed. 'Viewed under the microscope, they are barely distinguishable from human iPS cells,' says Drukker, adding: 'They also respond very similarly to external influences.'Ī promising start for germline cell cultivation The rhino stem cells generated in this way are remarkably similar to their human equivalent.

#White rhinoceros extinct skin#

These plasmids contained genes to reprogram the skin cells into iPS cells. This involved the researchers introducing foreign DNA molecules called 'plasmids' into skin cells they had obtained. Stem cell researcher Professor Micha Drukker and his teams at Helmholtz Zentrum München and at Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Reserach at Leiden University used a process known as episomal reprogramming to successfully produce northern white rhino iPS cells. The mice conceived by this method were born healthy and fertile. In 2016, Hayashi succeeded in generating egg cells from the skin of mice, artificially fertilizing these cells, and implanting them in females. The researchers are working closely with the lab of Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi, a Japanese stem cell researcher at Kyushu University. IPS cells in a petri dish have the potential to develop into any cells of the body - including the primordial germ cells that the BioRescue scientists want to cultivate. The international consortium, which includes the MDC, is led by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) and cooperates with many more partners, including Helmholtz Zentrum München in Germany. The BioRescue project has received €4 million in funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). 'It therefore represents an important milestone on the road to artificially generated rhino oocytes.' Vera Zywitza of the Pluripotent Stem Cells Platform at the MDC, which is led by Dr. 'Our paper sheds new light on pluripotency - the ability of stem cells to differentiate into all cells of the body,' says lead author Dr. In the journal Scientific Reports, they reveal that they have managed to obtain and conduct in-depth studies on pluripotent rhino stem cells. The team from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), together with partners in Munich, the Netherlands and Japan, has now taken a major step towards this goal. The researchers are pursuing a two-pronged approach: First, they are developing advanced assisted reproduction techniques second, they want to use skin cells taken from the northern white rhinoceros to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in the lab, which can eventually develop into immature egg cells, or oocytes. However, the BioRescue consortium is working against the clock to ensure that the northern white rhino does not disappear from our planet forever. As a result, this subspecies can no longer reproduce naturally, and extinction seems inevitable. Fatu and Najin are the last two northern white rhinos in the world - and they are both female.