Researchers at Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences have made a breakthrough in de-extinction by creating mice with woolly mammoth-like features using gene editing. The goal is to eventually bring back the extinct species, which roamed the Earth 4,000 years ago.
The scientists used CRISPR gene editing to modify mouse embryos, producing nearly 250 embryos in five rounds of experiments. Only a few dozen survived and expressed the desired traits, including shaggy coats and accelerated fat metabolism. The mice’s woolly hair is also seen as a crucial step towards creating an ice age mammoth.
While this is not the first attempt to de-extinct a species, Colossal scientists believe that their work marks a major milestone in developing a more widely applicable technology. They plan to use this approach to bring back other extinct species, including the dodo and thylacine.
The company’s CEO, Ben Lamm, believes that de-extinction can be an insurance policy against environmental decline and loss of biodiversity. “We don’t argue that gene editing should replace traditional conservation methods, but we think it’s a ‘both and’ situation,” he said. With the help of gene editing, scientists hope to save endangered species by fortifying their genetic resilience to adapt to climate change.
As the technology advances, Colossal aims to engineer dozens of genes in addition to those that control fur and fat layers. The next step will be to test these modifications in more mouse models before attempting to bring back an elephant. With this breakthrough, scientists are one step closer to bringing back a species that once roamed the Earth.
Source: https://time.com/7264043/colossal-biosciences-woolly-mouse-bring-back-mammoth