Icy remains reveal mammoth's genetic makeup

Scientists have unravelled the genetic makeup of the woolly mammoth by analysing hairs plucked from carcasses recovered from the Siberian permafrost.The feat was hailed as a milestone in genetic science yesterday and represents the first time an extinct animal has had its genome sequenced. The first draft of the genetic code shows mammoths split into two groups about 2m years ago. One group became extinct about 45,000 years ago, while the other is thought to have lived on to as recently as 10,000 years ago."It has now become feasible to sequence a complete extinct animal, which is quite amazing," said Stephan Schuster, who led the research at Penn State University. The achievement is an indication of the rapid progress in genetics. In 2003, the 13-year effort to read the human genome was completed at a cost of $2.6bn. The mammoth genome was read at one laboratory in less than a...

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