{"id":30929,"date":"2019-01-13T12:48:04","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T12:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=30929"},"modified":"2019-01-13T12:48:04","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T12:48:04","slug":"genetic-research-in-cardiff-could-save-northern-white-rhino-from-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2019\/01\/13\/genetic-research-in-cardiff-could-save-northern-white-rhino-from-extinction\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetic research in Cardiff could save northern white rhino"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_34138\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34138\" style=\"width: 2592px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-34138 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/DSC04295-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2592\" height=\"1944\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34138\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34138 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/DSC04295-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2592\" height=\"1944\" \/><\/noscript> Photo supplied by Dr Isa-Rita Russo<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nITS RAINING again, and I don\u2019t mean a light drizzle &#8211; I mean a full-on downpour which soaks your supposedly waterproof jacket and reminds you that you are indeed in Wales, one of the wettest places in the UK.<br \/>\nThe rain gets me thinking about who I am about to meet &#8211; Isa-Rita Russo &#8211; a geneticist working at Cardiff University\u2019s School of Biosciences.<br \/>\nShe\u2019s originally from Standerton in South Africa, a farming community lying on the banks of the Val River and I can\u2019t help but wonder how she found the change.<br \/>\nDr Russo finds me in a puddle in the foyer and greets me with excitement and warmth that could have dried my clothes if possible.<br \/>\nShe tells me she moved to the UK nine years ago after completing her PhD at Pretoria University and says she found Wales \u201cdark and cold and wet but I am kind of used to it now&#8221;.<br \/>\nLike me she says her love of nature comes from watching David Attenborough BBC documentaries for two hours every Sunday as a child and that it pushed her to where she is now.<br \/>\nI am here to talk to Dr Russo about her ground-breaking research detailing how genes could hold the answer to not only saving the critically endangered northern white rhino from extinction, but also helping protect all rhinos from climate change.<br \/>\nIn March 2018, white rhinos made headlines around the world with the death of the last male \u2013 45-year-old Sudan, who died after months of ill health.<br \/>\nNow there are just two northern white rhinos left \u2013 Najin, 28, and Fatu, 17 \u2013 Sudan\u2019s daughter and granddaughter who live under 24-hour armed guards in Kenya\u2019s Ol Pejeta Conservancy.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30933\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30933\" style=\"width: 890px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-30933 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"890\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH.jpg 890w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH-770x433.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH-293x165.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 890px) 100vw, 890px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30933\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30933 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"890\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH.jpg 890w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH-770x433.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/MW-GF809_last_r_20180320101339_ZH-293x165.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 890px) 100vw, 890px\" \/><\/noscript> Najin (left) and Fatu, the last two remaining Northern females (Getty images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nBoth are post-reproductive ages, but hope is not lost. A paper by Dr Russo and her team, published at the end of last year by the Royal Society, explains the genetic link between northern white rhinos and their southern cousins, of which there are roughly 21,000 left alive.<br \/>\nDr Russo and her research partner Dr Yoshan Moodley of the University of Venda found a gene flow in the 232 genetic samples they analysed; in other words, the two sub-species of rhino have at some time mixed.<br \/>\nIt was previously thought the two species had been separated for a long time, but the paper by Dr Moodley and Dr Russo explains the mixing occurred when the northern rhino\u2019s grassland habitat expanded to where the southern rhinos were, as little as 14,000 years ago &#8212; a comparative blink in the eye in evolutionary terms.<br \/>\n\u201cI suppose this is a fairly contentious issue because a lot of people will say why do we need to save the northern white rhino if there\u2019s only two females left?<br \/>\n\u201cBut we want to save the species because we want our children and our children\u2019s children to be able to see the northern white rhino one day.<br \/>\n\u201cThe question you need to ask is: how different are they from the southern white rhino? I would refer to them as two different genetic populations which are important from an ecological perspective because they fulfil roles and maintain balance.\u201d<br \/>\nDr Russo says all she is proving is how if you wanted to bring back northern whites you could use southern whites\u2019 genes to do it \u2013 as if it wasn\u2019t a big deal.<br \/>\nShe explains it to my unscientific brain as this: one set of genes would be red when mapped (the northern genes), and another set would be blue (the southern genes). The teams\u2019 gene analysis shows that both the red and blue maps have cross over points, these &#8220;microsatellite DNA markers&#8221; prove the species have mixed.<br \/>\nOnly one northern and southern hybrid has been known of before \u2013 Nasi \u2013 who was born in captivity in 1977 but died aged 30 never having bred, leaving questions about the viability of the option \u2013 Dr Russo says more investigation needs to be done to understand if it&#8217;s viable.<br \/>\nIVF is already being explored as an option for northern white rhinos\u2019 survival.<br \/>\nDr Thomas Hildebrant of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin has tested IVF on Victoria \u2013 a southern white rhino who is currently pregnant at San Diego Zoo Safari Park.<br \/>\nDr Russo explains IVF is an expensive process and has poor success rates in rhinos because of their biology.<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to reach the ovaries and womb of a 2-tonne animal, they are 1m deep!\u201d She tells me the process involves a very long needle.<br \/>\nThe team in Berlin is testing whether southern white rhinos can carry a calf to term through IVF before they risk putting one of the rare northern white rhino embryos into a southern.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30935\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30935\" style=\"width: 2592px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-30935 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/DSC01426.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2592\" height=\"1944\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30935\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30935 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/DSC01426.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2592\" height=\"1944\" \/><\/noscript> Photo supplied by Dr Russo from a trip to South Africa<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nDr Russo says this is great for getting back more northern white rhinos descended from Sudan, Najin and Fatu (who have all had their DNA collected) but merely using the samples from their pool would not have enough genetic diversity.<br \/>\nThat\u2019s why her team&#8217;s research shines new hope as it proves you could mix the two sub-species genes and create more northern white rhinos and improve the gene pool.<br \/>\nI asked Dr Russo what she thinks the main challenges facing conservationists are.<br \/>\n&#8220;Unfortunately politics and money get in the way but it is also good communication. Us scientists sometimes do not get across that what we are suggesting is not impossible, we need to be more passionate and strengthen the communication channels between policy makers, conservationists, and scientists.&#8221;<br \/>\nNow Dr Russo and her colleagues are turning to the future of black rhinos \u2013 by mapping whole gene sequences to look at signatures of adaption to see how rhinos have adapted to survive in different extreme habitats.<br \/>\nWhen I asked her why they were doing this research she said: \u201cOne of the big things in terms of why is because we are living in an era with climate change and if things are going to change, we can use that knowledge to help animals survive in a different environment.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cSo you are basically going to save the rhinos by selecting the best genes to help them survive climate change?\u201d I ask.<br \/>\nShe looked bashful and admitted \u201ckind of\u201d but admitted it\u2019s a long way off.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30936\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30936\" style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-30936 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-770x578.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-293x220.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-1400x1050.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30936\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30936 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-770x578.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-293x220.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/Fieldtrip-CT2-2003-288-1400x1050.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/noscript> Dr Russo collecting a sample of the Namaqua Rock mouse for her PHD<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ITS RAINING again, and I don\u2019t mean a light drizzle &#8211; I mean a full-on downpour which soaks your supposedly waterproof jacket and reminds you that you are indeed in Wales, one of the wettest places in the UK. The rain gets me thinking about who I am about to meet &#8211; Isa-Rita Russo &#8211; a geneticist working at Cardiff University\u2019s School of Biosciences. She\u2019s originally from Standerton in South Africa, a farming community lying on the banks of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":30932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,14,3,113],"tags":[5772,6270,6271,6272,553,6273],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-30929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-lead","category-longer-reads","category-news","category-uncategorised","tag-conservation","tag-dr-isa-rita-russo","tag-genetics","tag-northern-white-rhino","tag-research","tag-rhino"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Genetic research in Cardiff could save northern white rhino - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2019\/01\/13\/genetic-research-in-cardiff-could-save-northern-white-rhino-from-extinction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Genetic research in Cardiff could save northern white rhino - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ITS RAINING again, and I don\u2019t mean a light drizzle &#8211; I mean a full-on downpour which soaks your supposedly waterproof jacket and reminds you that you are indeed in Wales, one of the wettest places in the UK. The rain gets me thinking about who I am about to meet &#8211; Isa-Rita Russo &#8211; a geneticist working at Cardiff University\u2019s School of Biosciences. She\u2019s originally from Standerton in South Africa, a farming community lying on the banks of the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2019\/01\/13\/genetic-research-in-cardiff-could-save-northern-white-rhino-from-extinction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-13T12:48:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/01\/DSC04295-e1547377181105.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emma Elgee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emma Elgee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2019\/01\/13\/genetic-research-in-cardiff-could-save-northern-white-rhino-from-extinction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2019\/01\/13\/genetic-research-in-cardiff-could-save-northern-white-rhino-from-extinction\/\",\"name\":\"Genetic research in Cardiff could save northern white rhino - 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The rain gets me thinking about who I am about to meet &#8211; Isa-Rita Russo &#8211; a geneticist working at Cardiff University\u2019s School of Biosciences. 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