Any Hope of Bringing Back the Rapa Nui Palm?

[Alex High]

Hello palm lovers,

I was recently reading about a palm, originally named Jubaea disperta, but now placed in its own genus, Paschalococos, by Dr. John Dransfield, and it is now known as Paschalococos disperta, but which genus it truly belongs in has not been resolved, and some still place the species in the genus Jubaea. The common names are the Rapa Nui palm or Easter Island palm, because it was endemic to Easter Island (called Rapa Nui by native peoples), but it went extinct around 1650 A.D. The main theories for why the palm went extinct are the overpopulation of the island, leading to over consumption of the heart of the palm and chopping down the trunks for canoes and other structures, killing the species off, or that the Polynesian rat, brought by Polynesians arriving on the island between 800 and 1000 A.D., ate the nuts of the palm and left not enough seeds behind to reseed and repopulate. What remains today of of this species are the hollowed out seeds, which were found in a cave, casts of the roots, and, apparently, pollen from lake beds. My question is: Is there any way to bring this species back using any remaining DNA samples from the pollen or seeds? Since the seeds are hollow, they will obviously not grow on their own like the Judean date palm, but could people somehow bring this palm back to life using the remaining fragments of it that we have left? The pollen that remains yield anything that can bring back the species or could people hybridize it with Jubaea chilensis, since they are closely related. I will put pictures of the hollowed seeds below.

Thank you!

PalmsUSA

[necturus]

It's certainly possible its genome could be sequenced. The ability to extract and sequence DNA from old and less than ideal specimens has dramatically improved in the last decade. See the recent sequencing of the extinct Carolina parakeet.

The jump from that to recreating the species is a big one. It is highly unlikely the pollen is still good enough to cross with Jubaea. If it really is a close cousin of Jubaea, one day we could engineer the divergent parts back into the Jubaea genome. Sounds very Jurassic Park, right? "Dino DNA!" If it's not that close, it becomes trickier, but it will be undoubtedly doable at some point.

Will anyone care to invest the time or money? Will the project survive all the Neo-Luddites who oppose this type of genetic tampering? Those are probably the bigger questions.

[Fallen Munk]

In a world which cared about how many species we are losing every day, yes, it could probably be done.  In this world, likely no.

[Alex High]

55 minutes ago, necturus said:

It's certainly possible its genome could be sequenced. The ability to extract and sequence DNA from old and less than ideal specimens has dramatically improved in the last decade. See the recent sequencing of the extinct Carolina parakeet.

The jump from that to recreating the species is a big one. It is highly unlikely the pollen is still good enough to cross with Jubaea. If it really is a close cousin of Jubaea, one day we could engineer the divergent parts back into the Jubaea genome. Sounds very Jurassic Park, right? "Dino DNA!" If it's not that close, it becomes trickier, but it will be undoubtedly doable at some point.

Will anyone care to invest the time or money? Will the project survive all the Neo-Luddites who oppose this type of genetic tampering? Those are probably the bigger questions.

Thanks for responding. I have heard about the potential of bringing back the Carolina parakeet, and it is a quite interesting debate. You bring up a good point about whether anyone actually wants to invest the time and money just to resurrect a palm tree similar to the Jubaea chilensis today. Also the island still has strong native traditions and leaders who may not want the DNA to be tampered with. Thanks again!

PalmsUSA

[Alex High]

14 minutes ago, Fallen Munk said:

In a world which cared about how many species we are losing every day, yes, it could probably be done.  In this world, likely no.

Well said my friend, you are probably right.

[Manuel Gonzalez-Pinedo]

I ask you about the EXTINCT PALM FROM EASTER ISLAND (Paschalococos disperta) RESURECTION from ancient pollen preserved (in lake, cave, under a rock or any dry place) sediments through DIPLOIDIZATION of viable pollen by microscope selection.

I am sure that not all ancient pollen are dead, just we need to find the viable one, what really matter.

Thanks in advance.

Manuel González-Pinedo.

Mexico.