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Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, Species...
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Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, Species Restoration, and Conservation Breeding Programs

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecology and Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 6046

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Robert K. Browne

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Sustainability America, La Isla Road, Sarteneja, Corozal District, Belize
Interests: herpetology; assisted reproductive technologies; endocrinology; cryobiology; biobanking; evolutionary ecology; sustainable management; conservation breeding programs; biodiversity; space colonisation
Dr. Ruth M. Marcec-Greaves

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Honduras Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Center, Oak Grove, MI 64075, USA
Interests: amphibian conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global awareness of drastic biodiversity loss and the mandate for Intergenerational Entitlement and Rights for Nature has resulted in international incentives such as COP 15 and COP 28, regional governance, and community engagement to conserve biodiversity through habitat protection or restoration. However, these initiatives cannot prevent the extinction of many species in the wild due to inevitable ecosystem loss through direct destruction or ubiquitous environmental impacts such as climate catastrophe. Since the turn of the millennium, reproduction biotechnologies, biobanking, and conservation breeding programs (RBCs) have increasingly supported threatened species by maintaining genetic diversity or providing individuals for repopulation. However, for species suffering irreversible habitat loss, emerging biotechnologies have the potential to perpetuate species solely through biobanked cells and tissues. These resources can then be used to restore species and, along with assisted evolution, provide individuals adapted to modified or terraformed ecosystems. Largely unexplored are the potentials and ethics of RBCs to support terraforming as the conscious creation of ecosystems on Earth or through expanding the biosphere into space. This Special Issue presents a multi-disciplinary forum for the contemporary and futuristic use of RBCs to prevent biodiversity loss.

Dr. Robert K. Browne
Guest Editor

Dr. Ruth M. Marcec-Greaves
Co-Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • reproduction biotechnologies
  • biobanking
  • animal ethics
  • sustainable management
  • endangered species
  • terraforming

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2725 KiB  
Article
Endangered Przewalski’s Horse, Equus przewalskii, Cloned from Historically Cryopreserved Cells
by Ben J. Novak, Oliver A. Ryder, Marlys L. Houck, Kelcey Walker, Lexie Russell, Blake Russell, Shawn Walker, Sanaz Sadeghieh Arenivas, Lauren Aston, Gregg Veneklasen, Jamie A. Ivy, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Anna Rusnak, Jaroslav Simek, Anna Zhuk, Andrea S. Putnam and Ryan Phelan
Animals 2025, 15(5), 613; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15050613 - 20 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1562
Abstract
Cloning from historically cryopreserved cells offers a potential means to restore lost genetic variation or increase the representation of particular lineages within bottlenecked species, provided such biobanked materials are archived for such genetic rescue applications. One species for which cloning can provide genetic [...] Read more.
Cloning from historically cryopreserved cells offers a potential means to restore lost genetic variation or increase the representation of particular lineages within bottlenecked species, provided such biobanked materials are archived for such genetic rescue applications. One species for which cloning can provide genetic management benefits is Przewalski’s horse, Equus przewalskii. All ~1800 living Przewalski’s horses, distributed across ex situ breeding facilities and in situ reintroduction sites, are descended from one or more of the five founder lineages established by the 12 horses captured from the wild between 1898 and 1947. Since the 1970s, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Biodiversity Bank’s Frozen Zoo® (Escondido, CA, USA) has biobanked cells or tissues of 575 individuals spanning many generations. A pedigree analysis of a subset of deceased individuals represented in the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Biodiversity Bank’s Frozen Zoo® revealed an underrepresented male that lived from 1975 to 1998, Studbook Number 615 (also known as Kuporovitch), who would be of high value for breeding if cloned. Here, we report that two healthy clones were produced from this cell line using cross-species somatic cell nuclear transfer from 2020 to 2023. Their identification as clones was verified by a standard horse-pedigree genotyping panel, and, for one clone, a whole genome sequencing comparison to the original donor was performed. This is the first time that multiple healthy clones surviving the perinatal period have been produced for an endangered species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, Species Restoration, and Conservation Breeding Programs)
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Review

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36 pages, 1645 KiB  
Review
Towards Practical Conservation Cloning: Understanding the Dichotomy Between the Histories of Commercial and Conservation Cloning
by Ben J. Novak, Stewart Brand, Ryan Phelan, Sasha Plichta, Oliver A. Ryder and Robert J. Wiese
Animals 2025, 15(7), 989; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15070989 - 29 Mar 2025
Viewed by 1748
Abstract
Over 40 years ago, scientists imagined ways cloning could aid conservation of threatened taxa. The cloning of Dolly the sheep from adult somatic cells in 1996 was the breakthrough that finally enabled the conservation potential of the technology. Until the 2020s, conservation cloning [...] Read more.
Over 40 years ago, scientists imagined ways cloning could aid conservation of threatened taxa. The cloning of Dolly the sheep from adult somatic cells in 1996 was the breakthrough that finally enabled the conservation potential of the technology. Until the 2020s, conservation cloning research efforts yielded no management applications, leading many to believe cloning is not yet an effective conservation tool. In strong contrast, domestic taxa are cloned routinely for scientific and commercial purposes. In this review, we sought to understand the reasons for these divergent trends. We scoured peer-reviewed and gray literature and sent direct inquiries to scientists to analyze a more comprehensive history of the field than was analyzed in previous reviews. While most previous reviewers concluded that a lack of reproductive knowledge of wildlife species has hindered advances for wider conservation applications, we found that resource limitations (e.g., numbers of surrogates, sustainable funding) and widely held misconceptions about cloning are significant contributors to the stagnation of the field. Recent successes in cloning programs for the endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) and Przewalski’s horse (Equus przewalskii), the world’s first true applied-conservation cloning efforts, are demonstrating that cloning can be used for significant conservation impact in the present. When viewed alongside the long history of cloning achievements, these programs emphasize the value of investing in the science and resources needed to meaningfully integrate cloning into conservation management, especially for species with limited genetic diversity that rely on the maintenance of small populations for many generations while conservationists work to restore habitat and mitigate threats in the wild. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, Species Restoration, and Conservation Breeding Programs)
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36 pages, 2822 KiB  
Review
The Sixth Mass Extinction and Amphibian Species Sustainability Through Reproduction and Advanced Biotechnologies, Biobanking of Germplasm and Somatic Cells, and Conservation Breeding Programs (RBCs)
by Robert K. Browne, Qinghua Luo, Pei Wang, Nabil Mansour, Svetlana A. Kaurova, Edith N. Gakhova, Natalia V. Shishova, Victor K. Uteshev, Ludmila I. Kramarova, Govindappa Venu, Mikhail F. Bagaturov, Somaye Vaissi, Pouria Heshmatzad, Peter Janzen, Aleona Swegen, Julie Strand and Dale McGinnity
Animals 2024, 14(23), 3395; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14233395 - 25 Nov 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1925
Abstract
Primary themes in intergenerational justice are a healthy environment, the perpetuation of Earth’s biodiversity, and the sustainable management of the biosphere. However, the current rate of species declines globally, ecosystem collapses driven by accelerating and catastrophic global heating, and a plethora of other [...] Read more.
Primary themes in intergenerational justice are a healthy environment, the perpetuation of Earth’s biodiversity, and the sustainable management of the biosphere. However, the current rate of species declines globally, ecosystem collapses driven by accelerating and catastrophic global heating, and a plethora of other threats preclude the ability of habitat protection alone to prevent a cascade of amphibian and other species mass extinctions. Reproduction and advanced biotechnologies, biobanking of germplasm and somatic cells, and conservation breeding programs (RBCs) offer a transformative change in biodiversity management. This change can economically and reliably perpetuate species irrespective of environmental targets and extend to satisfy humanity’s future needs as the biosphere expands into space. Currently applied RBCs include the hormonal stimulation of reproduction, the collection and refrigerated storage of sperm and oocytes, sperm cryopreservation, in vitro fertilization, and biobanking of germplasm and somatic cells. The benefits of advanced biotechnologies in development, such as assisted evolution and cloning for species adaptation or restoration, have yet to be fully realized. We broaden our discussion to include genetic management, political and cultural engagement, and future applications, including the extension of the biosphere through humanity’s interplanetary and interstellar colonization. The development and application of RBCs raise intriguing ethical, theological, and philosophical issues. We address these themes with amphibian models to introduce the Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Special Issue, The Sixth Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, and Conservation Breeding Programs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mass Extinction and Species Sustainability through Reproduction Biotechnologies, Biobanking, Species Restoration, and Conservation Breeding Programs)
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