Extinct frog gets Lazarus treatment

AUSTRALIAN scientists are giving an extinct frog, famous for giving birth through its mouth, a second crack at life.

The scientists say they have successfully reactivated the DNA of the gastric-brooding frog (Rheobatrachus silus), and other long-gone animals could be next.

The native frog uniquely swallowed its eggs, brooded its young in its stomach and gave birth through its mouth but became extinct in 1983.

And the frogs might have been gone forever had Adelaide researcher Mike Tyler not thought to put samples on ice back in the 1970s.

The team behind the aptly named Project Lazarus want to bring the frog back to life and have taken the first step, using frog tissues stored in a conventional freezer for 40 years.

The work so far, which involves the insertion of the extinct frog's DNA into donor eggs from a distant cousin, the Great Barred Frog, has been described as world-leading.

"We are watching Lazarus arise from the dead, step by exciting step," said project leader Mike Archer, of the University of NSW.

"We've reactivated dead cells into living ones and revived the extinct frog's genome in the process.

"Now we have fresh cryo-preserved cells of the extinct frog to use in future cloning experiments."

Reproductive biologist Andrew French, who led the technical work with fellow scientist Jitong Guo, said breakthroughs in genome sequencing meant scientists could do much more with partially damaged DNA samples than previously.

That meant there was a serious possibility the long-extinct the Tasmanian Tiger, or thylacine, could make a comeback, he said.

"I think the technology is changing so quickly in terms of being able to understand the Tasmanian tiger genome, or using a technology that allows us to get a full picture of the genome," Dr French told AAP.

He said the Tasmanian Tiger in fact had a closer genetic relative in the diminutive Tasmanian devil, and that devils could one day play a role in bringing the thylacine back.

The Lazarus results are yet to be published, but were unveiled at a forum in the US on Friday (Saturday AEDT).

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