Jurassic Park®:Is it possible?


How did the scientists create dinosaurs in the movie?

In the movie, the scientist followed a detailed process and used a varitey of cloning and recombinant DNA technology. Here's what they did...

1. Find and collect amber. Amber is tree sap that has hardened and fossilized also preserving insects inside of it.
2. Take out the mosquito from the amber and extract red blood cells from its gut (Mosquitos suck blood out of organisms... such as... DINOSAURS).
3. Extract DNA from the blood cells.
4. Sequence the DNA to create a complete strand of DNA.
5. Fill in any gaps in the DNA by splicing frog DNA with the dinosaur DNA.
6. Insert this DNA into crocodile ova and create an embryo.
7. Put the embryo inside of special plastic eggs with large yolk sacs and little water.
8. Incubate the eggs in an environment with 100% humidity and a temperature of 99 °F.
9. Allow eggs to hatch naturally and for baby dinosaurs to grow.

Seems pretty easy, but it isn't possible.

So, why can't we clone dinosaurs?


Well, there are a number of reasons why we can't clone dinosaurs. First of all, we have already tried and have come out unsuccessful. Secondly, it is a difficult process that involves a lot of chance events at one time. Here are some reasons why it is not possible...


1. Dinosaur DNA is difficult to obtain and to sequence. Although ancient dinosaur DNA has been found, the DNA is broken apart and must be sequenced. This process is a little difficut because there is not a complete strand of dinosaur DNA anywhere to copy. We can't simply make it complete, we have to make sure that every base pair is in the correct place.

2. Even if we have the DNA sequenced, there will be some gaps that must be filled. Unlike in the movie, these gaps can't be filled by splicing frog DNA. Dinosaur DNA must be used to fill in the gaps in the DNA. However, we don't have the DNA to do this either. Also, splicing in frog DNA, will not create a dinosaur, it would create a mutant or a frog/dinosaur type organism.

3. Once the DNA is sequenced and complete, it must be inserted into an oocyte so that it can be cloned. The oocyte must come from the same organism that is being cloned (in our case this would be a dinosaur), and since no dinosaurs are alive today, this would be impossible. It wouldn't work to insert the DNA into crocodile ova because crocodile ova is specialized for crocodiles, not dinosaurs.

4. Even if crocodile ova could hold dinosaur DNA, a problem still arises with the development of the dinosaur embryo. Dinosaurs were born through eggs, so we simply can't put them inside of an organism. We must put them in eggs. In the movie, the scientist created plastic eggs. However, this would not work because every organism must have a specialized egg. A turtle's egg will not have the nutrients necessary for a fish, nor would a fish have the nutrients necessary for a turtle. Every organism must have its own special egg to nourish its young.

So, as you can see, there are a various factors that make it impossible for Jurassic Park® to become a reality. Currently, we can't do it. However, maybe in the future, we might have the technology and the ability to clone dinosaurs and to bring them back to life.



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