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  5. Dire Wolf "De-Extinction" Raises Questions About Meaning and Feasibility

Dire Wolf "De-Extinction" Raises Questions About Meaning and Feasibility

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Colossal Biosciences has announced the birth of three genetically engineered wolf pups—Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi—designed to resemble the extinct dire wolf by editing gray wolf DNA. While the pups exhibit physical traits similar to dire wolves, their genomes remain predominantly gray wolf, leading some experts to question the authenticity of the de-extinction claim.

  1. US
    George RR Martin
    1. Many people view dire wolves as mythical creatures that only exist in a fantasy world, but in reality, they have a rich history of contributing to the American ecosystem.
    2. I get the luxury to write about magic, but [they] have created magic by bringing these majestic beasts back to our world.
  2. US
    Colossal Biosciences
    1. Together, this data provided more than 500 times more coverage of the dire wolf genome than was available previously.
    2. The team deeply sequenced the extracted DNA and used Colossal's novel approach to iteratively assemble high quality ancient genomes.
    3. We refer to these animals as dire wolves because they embody the key morphological traits, behavioral characteristics, and ecological functions that defined the species.
    4. They look like dire wolves, and express genes specific to dire wolves.
    5. The successful birth of three dire wolves is a revolutionary milestone of scientific progress.
  3. AU
    Emily Roycroft
    Monash University
    1. The company claims to have used a gene-editing technology to make 20 targeted changes to 15 different genes of the grey wolf.
    2. This is a grey wolf with an edited genome, not a dire wolf.
  4. NZ
    Nic Rawlence
    1. What Colossal Biosciences have produced is a grey wolf with dire wolf-like characteristics. This is not a de-extincted dire wolf, rather it's a hybrid.
    2. To truly de-extinct something, you would have to clone it.
    3. So the only way to 'de-extinct' an animal is to use the new synthetic biology technology [that allows scientists to] go and chop out a little bit of DNA and insert a new piece of DNA that effectively results in a genetic change.
  5. SE
    Love Dalen
    Stockholm University
    1. There's no secret that across the genome, this is 99.9 percent grey wolf. There is going to be an argument in the scientific community regarding how many genes need to be changed to make a dire wolf, but this is really a philosophical question.
    2. It carries dire wolf genes, and these genes make it look more like a dire wolf than anything we've seen in the last 13,000 years. And that is very cool.

sources

  1. 1.Ars Technica
  2. 2.ABC News (Australia)
  3. 3.Al Jazeera
  4. 4.New Yorker
  5. 5.Rolling Stone
  6. 6.Time Magazine
  7. 7.Wired

perspectives

  1. 1.Climate Change
  2. 2.Animal Welfare
  3. 3.Zoos
  4. 4.Famous animals
  5. 5.Canidae
  6. 6.Genetics

countries

  1. 1.CanadaCA
  2. 2.United StatesUS

organizations

  1. 1.Colossal BiosciencesUS
  2. 2.International Union for Conservation of Nature
  3. 3.Lakehead University
  4. 4.US Department of Energy
  5. 5.Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
  6. 6.Metallica
  7. 7.Monash University
  8. 8.Stockholm University
  9. 9.US Fish and Wildlife Service

persons

  1. 1.George RR MartinUS
  2. 2.Ben Lamm
  3. 3.Erin Sebo
  4. 4.Bon Iver
  5. 5.Charlie Wolf Tell
  6. 6.Emily RoycroftAU
  7. 7.Lauren Conrad
  8. 8.Love DalenSE
  9. 9.Matt James

technicals

  1. 1.Game of Thrones
  2. 2.Peter and the Wolf
  3. 3.HBO Now
  4. 4.Twilight Series
  5. 5.Joe Rogan Experience
  6. 6.Jungle Book