Pembient

Pembient

Jun 30, 2016

Group 6 Copy 413
2

Petition for a determination on Ntombi's sample!

The Black Rhino Genome Project is rapidly approaching its one-year anniversary, so we thought we should give you, its backers, a long overdue update.

To recap, the project's funds were transferred to the University of Washington in late August. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Charles Murry's lab applied for two permits in order to legally bring Ntombi's ear notch into the United States. The application for the first of these, an import permit, was submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The second application, for an export permit, ended up at South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs.

Normally, one would expect a permit review to take 60 days. In the University's case, over 250 days have passed without an official response! We still want Ntombi to make history, but that won't happen if these delays continue. Thus, we're asking you to voice your concern to Edna Molewa, South Africa's Minister of Environmental Affairs.

An example email suitable for sending to the Minister follows.

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To: zmngadi@environment.gov.za Subject: Request to expedite a permit review for the Black Rhino Genome Project

Dear Minister Molewa (c/o  Ms. Zanele Mngadi):

I am a citizen scientist who donated to the Black Rhino Genome Project in July of 2015. This project has $17,292 committed to it from 170+ backers. The goal of the project is to have Dr. Charles Murry at the University of Washington sequence the genome of Ntombi, a black rhino living in South Africa. The resultant genetic code is then going to be made available to the public. This is a historic project, and it mirrors the sequencing work done on the southern white rhinoceros in 2012 by the Broad Institute. The only difference is that the Broad Institute obtained its sample from a zoo instead of from South Africa.

I am writing to you now because over 250 days have passed since the University of Washington applied for a permit to export an ear notch sample taken from Ntombi. The excessive wait has delayed the project, and I beseech you to help expedite the permit review process.

Sincerely, [INSERT NAME] https://experiment.com/projects/sequencing-the-black-rhinoceros-genome

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A contingency plan exists should we not prevail in getting the permit review process expedited. Already, Dr. Charles Murry's lab has received a putative black rhinoceros artifact from a zoological collection. A graduate student has derived DNA from this artifact. Next, certain regions of mitochondrial DNA will be amplified and a phylogenetic analysis will be conducted to confirm the sample is from a black rhinoceros. If things go according to plan, this DNA may be sequenced instead of Ntombi's DNA; although, everyone would prefer to carry out the project as it was originally conceived.

2 comments

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  • Pembient
    PembientResearcher
    To be clear: The Black Rhino Genome Project is materially no different than the Genome 10K Project (https://genome10k.soe.ucsc.edu/) or the Broad Institute's sequencing of a southern white rhino (http://www.broadinstitute.org/software/allpaths-lg/blog/?p=386). To oppose one of these conservation projects is to oppose all of them, and such a stance is fundamentally anti-science. Furthermore, let us reiterate that all inputs to and outputs from the Black Rhino Genome Project, along with the final disposal of all physical samples, will be solely controlled by researchers at the University of Washington and done in accordance with standard lab protocols. As with most sequencing projects, the final results will be made public, and no person or organization will have preferential access to the results.
    Jul 06, 2016
  • Michael Robinson
    Michael Robinson
    Nobody who has the slightest knowledge of wildlife consumer behaviour should send this or any other letter. This may be masquerading as a conservation initiative but the ultimate goal is to make millions from the sale of bioengineered rhino horn. This will undermine all attempts to dissuade consumers from buying rhino horn and will simply legitimise its use. The poachers will continue to poach, just as the tiger poachers have, despite the existence of thousands of captive tigers & widespread availability of their body parts. The smugglers will continue to smuggle, as it's a low-risk crime. The only beneficiaries of this scheme will be the bank balances and massive egos of those involved.
    Jul 06, 2016
  • Denny Luan
    Denny LuanBacker
    Michael, do you have proof of these pretty strong claims?
    Jul 06, 2016
  • Pembient
    PembientResearcher
    If you read the petition, it isn't FOR or AGAINST the Black Rhino Genome Project. Rather, it simply asks that South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs have its conservation experts make a ruling on the Project's export permit. Thus, even if you're AGAINST the Project for whatever false or misinformed reason, you should still be FOR the petition.
    Jul 06, 2016

About This Project

We are sequencing the genome of a beautiful black rhino. Her name is Ntombi, and she is one of only 5,055 black rhinos alive in the world. Three out of eight original subspecies have been poached to extinction and the remaining five subspecies are critically endangered. With Ntombi's genome sequence we will be able to advance scientists' understanding of this endangered species that has played a critical role in our ecosystem for over 50 million years.

Blast off!

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