Woolly mammoths are a step closer to roaming the world again after scientists engineered a ‘woolly mouse’.
It may be on a much smaller scale, but they are hailing it as evidence they can tweak the necessary genes to bring back the ancient ancester of modern elephants.
‘De-extinction’ company Colossal Biosciences previously set out their ambition to return three animals long gone from the planet.
They said they hoped to see the first mammoth calf born to an elephant mother in 2028, and now they’ve hit a milestone on the way.
The ‘woolly mouse’ has been engineered to have faster growing, thicker hair than its normal cousin. Photos of it held next to a standard grey mouse show that this is certainly the case, with the new version sporting a luscious mane that could be in a hair ad.
The company’s founder Ben Lamm told Metro it’s not about bringing them back for the sake of it, because they have cool tusks.
He said: ‘It’s forecast that we’re going to lose up to 50% of all biodiversity between now and 2050.
‘So we are in the sixth mass extinction, that has been driven by man.
‘It’s really important to acknowledge that conservation works – it just doesn’t work at the speed of which we are changing the planet and eradicating species.’
The idea is that by learning how to engineer DNA from lost creatures, it will be possible to ‘restore Earth, one species at a time’, with possibilities also to support endangered species which are not yet extinct.
Mr Lamm said the creation of the mouse was a ‘watershed moment’ in his mission.
It doesn’t just have flowing, thicker locks, but includes seven different traits making it more adapted to the cold. Changes to melanin production created a golden mouse rather than the black/agouti wild type coat color.
Colossal woolly mice have changes in body weight due to changes in lipid metabolism and fatty acid absorption.
Mr Lamm said: ‘We’ve proven our ability to recreate complex genetic combinations that took nature millions of years to create.
How did they do this?
Colossal said they looked at the genomes of 59 mammoths including woolly, Columbian, and steppe, ranging from 3,500 to over 1,200,000 years old, to decide on their genetic targets.
The team then examined elephant genomes too, including Asian and African elephants, to identify significant genes that impact hair and other cold-adaptation traits.
They focused on genes in which mammoths had evolved fixed differences compared to their closely related Asian elephant cousins.
After this, they refined the list to include ten genes related to hair length, thickness, texture, and color as well as lipid metabolism that were compatible with expression in a mouse.
The team then edited the mouse genome using three editing technologies simultaneously: RNP-mediated knockout, multiplex precision genome editing, and precision homology directed repair (HDR).
‘This success brings us a step closer to our goal of bringing back the woolly mammoth.’
George Church, renowned genetics professor and fo-founder of Colossal, said: ‘The Colossal Woolly Mouse demonstrates remarkable progress we’ve made in precise genome engineering, including optimized delivery methods, innovative multiplexing and combinations of gene targeting strategies.
‘We are showing that we can now rationally design and construct complex genetic adaptations, with profound implications for the future of multi-gene de-extinction and engineering.’
As well as mammoths, Colossal hope to bring Tasmanian tigers (thylacines) and dodos back from the dead.
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