According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, nearly 12,000 animal species are threatened with extinction today. There are many reasons for the precarious state of these species, and nearly as many plans to attempt restoration of their populations, but Japanese scientists are looking at one rarely considered option: Stem cells.
Dr. Goro Yoshizaki of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology pioneered a technique of taking primordial germ cells (PGCs) from one species and implanting them into another, resulting in surrogacy where individuals of one species give birth to prodigy of another. He’s pulled it off with salmon that could give birth to trout and tiger puffer fish borne from grass puffer fish, and is now working on ways to develop engineered mackerel species that could serve as surrogates for the endangered bluefin tuna.
The technique (and its ramifications) echoes the de-extinction theories discussed on this blog last year, except with the end goal of increasing populations of endangered species instead of reviving extinct ones. It also offers many possibilities for the conservation movement–and, in the process, introduces a whole slate of previously unconsidered ethical questions.
It’s an interesting proposal that, if successful, offers another option in the effort to restore endangered species. For that, it might be an idea worth saving.
Peter Raaymakers
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