Australian Researchers Show Signs of Progress in Reviving Extinct Species

In 1983 one of the world's most decidedly bizarre species of frog - called the gastric-brooding frog because it swallowed its eggs- went extinct.

However, kept locked away in deep freeze for over 40 years, a little piece of that frog was kept in hopes that one day the technology might render it relevant.

Turns out, that day might be now.

Researchers from the Lazarus Project - named after the character in the Bible Jesus brings back to life - believe they are well on their way to successfully reviving the animal that gave birth through its mouth using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Using fresh donor eggs from the distantly related great barred frog, researchers successfully inactivated the egg nuclei in each one and replaced it with dead nuclei from the gastric-brooding frog.

As they did so, several of the eggs spontaneously began to divide and grow to an early embryonic stage. And while none made it past this point, tests show that the dividing cells contained the genetic material of the extinct frog.

Perhaps one of the most exciting outcomes of the recent experiment is that the scientists, by transforming dead cells into living ones, have revived the frog's genome in the process. As a result, they now have fresh cryo-preserved cells necessary for future experiments.

Mike Archer is the project's team leader and a professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. In an article published by the University of New Castle, Archer expresses his team's views on the recent success.

"We are watching Lazarus arise from the dead, step by exciting step." 

The frozen specimens were preserved and provided by Professor Mike Tyler of the University of Adelaide.