Fragments of ancient moa eggshells. Eggshells are surprisingly good at protecting ancient DNA, and are often found at archaeological sites.

Credit: University of Otago

An artist's impression of the Moa.

Credit: Wikimedia

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PARIS: DNA from the fossilised eggshells of extinct birds - including iconic giants such as the moa and elephant bird - have been extracted for the first time, Australian scientists have reported.

The achievement marks a major step towards drafting the genome of birds wiped out by human greed, although the scientists warn this does not mean an extinct species should - or even can - be resurrected in the style of Jurassic Park.

The team, led by Michael Bunce of Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, say they isolated DNA from desiccated inner membranes in fossil eggshells, found in 13 locations in Australia, Madagascar and New Zealand.

Ancient giant birds

Ancient genetic material was coaxed from the eggshell of the moa (Dinornis), a flightless cousin to the ostrich that reached up to four metres in height and was hunted to extinction by New Zealand's Maori by the late 18th century.

DNA was also extracted from the elephant bird (Aepyornis), like the moa and ostrich a species of ratite, said the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Growing up to three metres high, the bird was wiped out by European colonisation of Madagascar by 1700.

Oldest egg sample from an emu

Other successes were reported using eggshells from an Australian owl and a New Zealand duck of unknown date. The oldest egg sample was from an emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), some 19,000 years old.

But the team were unable to get DNA from far older samples in Australia, estimated at 50,000 years old, from an extinct megafaunal bird called Genyornis.

The technique entails reducing the shell to powder, extracting the DNA with lab chemicals and then amplifying it using polymerase chain reaction, or PCR - a standard tool used by forensic scientists, for instance, in getting the famous "genetic fingerprint."

Only a tiny amount of DNA each

Bunce said the team extracted in each case only a tiny amount of DNA - just 250 base pairs, the 'rungs' on the ladder-like genetic code, and this is less than a fraction of one percent of the bird's genome.

"The point was proof of principle, to show that it can be done," he said. "We didn't go out to get very long pieces of DNA. That's obviously the next step."

Bunce said the exploit would give palaeontologists a new window into creatures of the past. Until now, DNA has been teased from bones - for instance, providing most of the genome of the Neanderthal, our enigmatic extinct cousins - and also from preserved hair.