Is this really a Guar? No, it's a hybrid. (Score 2)

While this is rather amazing accomplishment, I question wether this is, or ever could be a true Guar.

The scientists have managed to clone the nuclear(ie. in the nucleus, not atomic ;*}) DNA, but I doubt they have managed to clone the mitochondrial DNA, indeed my understanding of most mammalian cloning techniques is that they are relying on the donor egg cell having functional mitochondria.

While the nuclear DNA contains most of the genes that will determine the overall shape, plumbing and wiring of the animal, mitochondrial DNA provides the genes for the enzymes and cofactors that turn sugar into ATP(energy) within the cell, as well as those genes needed to reproduce the mitochondria themselves(yup they're like little bacteria).. What if a true Guar's mitochondria had, and more importantly needed, genes different from a cows mitochondria in order to survive in a much hotter, humid locale, such as the jungles of Asia?

And then of course there is the question of cytoplasmic inheritance...where misfolded proteins could change an organism drastically. See http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/ucmc-pmp092500. html for an example. Without direct cellular inheritance you could end up with a rather different animal, perhaps only subtlely, but then we are only about 3% different from the great apes. How much does it take to turn a Guar into a Cowguar?

And of course there is the issue of behaviours taught to a young animal by it's parents or herd, as well as the environment that it grows up in, not to mention the required genetic diversity to sustainably bring back an entire species...

These animals are not "true" Guars, they are hybrids.

So yes Virginia, extinction is permanent!

Tinker23 - Currently taking Biology and Genetics at College.