TY - JOUR
T1 - Selecting the best candidates for resurrecting extinct-in-the-wild plants from herbaria
AU - Albani Rocchetti, Giulia
AU - Carta, Angelino
AU - Mondoni, Andrea
AU - Godefroid, Sandrine
AU - Davis, Charles C.
AU - Caneva, Giulia
AU - Albrecht, Matthew A.
AU - Alvarado, Karla
AU - Bijmoer, Roxali
AU - Borosova, Renata
AU - Bräeuchler, Christian
AU - Breman, Elinor
AU - Briggs, Marie
AU - Buord, Stephane
AU - Cave, Lynette H.
AU - Da Silva, Nílber Gonçalves
AU - Davey, Alexandra H.
AU - Davies, Rachael M.
AU - Dickie, John B.
AU - Fabillo, Melodina
AU - Fleischmann, Andreas
AU - Franks, Andrew
AU - Hall, Geoffrey
AU - Kantvilas, Gintaras
AU - Klak, Cornelia
AU - Liu, Udayangani
AU - Medina, Leopoldo
AU - Reinhammar, Lars Gunnar
AU - Sebola, Ramagwai J.
AU - Schönberger, Ines
AU - Sweeney, Patrick
AU - Voglmayr, Hermann
AU - White, Adam
AU - Wieringa, Jan J.
AU - Zippel, Elke
AU - Abeli, Thomas
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the following herbarium personnel for assistance in examining specimens, including verifying the presence of seeds/fruits: S. Asencio (DAO), R. De Guzman (CAS), P. W. Fritsch (BRIT), C. Gallagher (MEL), A. D. S. Braganca Gil (MG), B. Lepschi (CANB), C. Loup (MPU), L. Loze (G), E. B. Magnaghi (CAS), A. Mcardle (MEL), P. Milne (former manager of collections at MEL), C. A. Morse (KANU), R. K. Rabeler (MICH), D. Ranatunga (AK), D. Schiavinato (BAA), M. A. Spencer (LINN), L. A. Standley (NEBC) and F. Zich (CNS).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Resurrecting extinct species is a fascinating and challenging idea for scientists and the general public. Whereas some theoretical progress has been made for animals, the resurrection of extinct plants (de-extinction sensu lato) is a relatively recently discussed topic. In this context, the term ‘de-extinction’ is used sensu lato to refer to the resurrection of ‘extinct in the wild’ species from seeds or tissues preserved in herbaria, as we acknowledge the current impossibility of knowing a priori whether a herbarium seed is alive and can germinate. In plants, this could be achieved by germinating or in vitro tissue-culturing old diaspores such as seeds or spores available in herbarium specimens. This paper reports the first list of plant de-extinction candidates based on the actual availability of seeds in herbarium specimens of globally extinct plants. We reviewed globally extinct seed plants using online resources and additional literature on national red lists, resulting in a list of 361 extinct taxa. We then proposed a method of prioritizing candidates for seed-plant de-extinction from diaspores found in herbarium specimens and complemented this with a phylogenetic approach to identify species that may maximize evolutionarily distinct features. Finally, combining data on seed storage behaviour and longevity, as well as specimen age in the novel ‘best de-extinction candidate’ score (DEXSCO), we identified 556 herbarium specimens belonging to 161 extinct species with available seeds. We expect that this list of de-extinction candidates and the novel approach to rank them will boost research efforts towards the first-ever plant de-extinction.
AB - Resurrecting extinct species is a fascinating and challenging idea for scientists and the general public. Whereas some theoretical progress has been made for animals, the resurrection of extinct plants (de-extinction sensu lato) is a relatively recently discussed topic. In this context, the term ‘de-extinction’ is used sensu lato to refer to the resurrection of ‘extinct in the wild’ species from seeds or tissues preserved in herbaria, as we acknowledge the current impossibility of knowing a priori whether a herbarium seed is alive and can germinate. In plants, this could be achieved by germinating or in vitro tissue-culturing old diaspores such as seeds or spores available in herbarium specimens. This paper reports the first list of plant de-extinction candidates based on the actual availability of seeds in herbarium specimens of globally extinct plants. We reviewed globally extinct seed plants using online resources and additional literature on national red lists, resulting in a list of 361 extinct taxa. We then proposed a method of prioritizing candidates for seed-plant de-extinction from diaspores found in herbarium specimens and complemented this with a phylogenetic approach to identify species that may maximize evolutionarily distinct features. Finally, combining data on seed storage behaviour and longevity, as well as specimen age in the novel ‘best de-extinction candidate’ score (DEXSCO), we identified 556 herbarium specimens belonging to 161 extinct species with available seeds. We expect that this list of de-extinction candidates and the novel approach to rank them will boost research efforts towards the first-ever plant de-extinction.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144197854&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41477-022-01296-7
DO - 10.1038/s41477-022-01296-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 36536014
AN - SCOPUS:85144197854
SN - 2055-026X
VL - 8
SP - 1385
EP - 1393
JO - Nature Plants
JF - Nature Plants
IS - 12
ER -