Cloning in biology is the process of producing populations of genetically-identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Scientists hoping to clone prehistoric woolly mammoths are preparing,their first frozen DNA samples in a bid to revive the species. The specimens of bone marrow, muscle and skin were unearthed last year inthe Siberian tundra where they had been preserved in ice for thousands ofyears Researchers at the Gifu Science and Technology Centre and KinkiUniversity want to use the genetic material in the cells to clone a woolly mammoth, said Dr Akira Irytani, a scientist at Kinki University in western Japan.Until now, scientists have only been able to produce clones using cells from live animals. This is how researchers created Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult animal.Researchers had thought that frozen cells were unusable because ice crystals would have damaged the DNA. That belief would rule out the possibility of resurrecting extinct animals from their frozen remains.
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