According to Colossal Biosciences, a Texas-based biotechnology company, the plan is genetically developed by Dodo, a genuine non-flying bird that disappeared 400 years ago and became a poster for the child’s disappearance.
The company’s researchers said they could raise specialized cells from Rock Dove, better known as a humble pigeon. They plan to use the same or similar methods as cultural cells from the nearest Dode living relative, Nicobar April, which is from the same bird family.
The Colossal is a year from a long-term goal-to make a living while walking Dodo’s approximateness, which is no different from its extinct its predecessor, but has described progress as the “main step”.
“This is a really important step of the Dodo project, but also a step in bird conservation,” said Beth Shapiro, Colossal, Chief Research Officer of Colossal. “It was a negative step of the Dodo project. We needed it to move on, and now that we have it, we are definitely gone and running. “
Nicobar April, the closest living relative of Dodo, looks at the tropical dome at the French Beauval Zoo. – Guillaum Sovant/AFP/Getty Images
The company caused excitement as well as disputes when April. Announced the birth of three Dire Wolf puppies. Colossal researchers said they revived the dog predator for the last time, 10,000 years ago, using ancient DNA, cloning and gene editing technology to change Gray Wolf’s genetic makeup, during the process it calls the company. Similar efforts to bring back woolen mammoth, Tilacin – better known as the Tasmania tiger – and another flying bird, moa, also.
Colossal also announced Wednesday that it raised $ 120 million. USD additional funding for a total of $ 555 million.
However, the ways needed to bring back a bird, such as Dodo, are different from those used by the company to create horrible wolves because birds develop in the egg and cannot be cloned in the same way as mammals, making the process more complex.
“So with birds, the slowest part of this process is that we have to do two generations. We can’t clone the cells, so we have to make moms and dads separately and breed so that both copies of the gene are modified,” Shapiro said. “It’s pretty slow.”
Hope germ cultivation
Scientists have come up with a way to raise a cell known as primary germ cells, which acts as an egg and sperm cell precursor from rock April. – Kolosal Biosciences
The Colossal reported Wednesday that its scientists have come up with a way to raise a vital cell type known as the primordial genital cell, which acts as an egg and sperm cell precursor, from Rock Dove (Columba Livia), better known as a common April.
The company said it focused on a rocky dove because the bird was widely bred and distant from the Dod. Scientists have previously been able to culture primordial genital cells or PGC hens and goose PGCs, a technique used to create a duck chicken.
“The first recipe for cell culture was Chicken PGCS and was published almost 20 years ago,” said Anna Keyte, Director of Colossal Bird species.
“Unfortunately, this recipe has not worked for any other tested bird species, even closely related species such as quail. Colossal discovered a pigeon recipe dramatically expands bird reproductive technology and is the basis of our dode’s work.”
The team has tested more than 300 recipes, before that in the proper combination of growth factors, molecules and metabolites, which allowed pigeon genital cells to grow 60 days. Wednesday was published on Wednesday with information that had not yet been reviewed.
Shapiro said other actions would be an attempt to use cells to create a living rock dove bore borne by surrogate chicken as proof of the concept.
At the same time, Colossal uses a similar culture to grow nicobar April primordial germ cells that are more related to dodo, germ cells. The company noted that it founded a bird breeding colony in Texas and began collecting primordial germ cells.
In addition, Colossal should be able to edit the features of Nicobar pigeon genital dodes based on the genome information about the extinct bird preserved in the museum’s specimens. The scientists then injected edited by the Nicobar Pigeons PGC into the ordinary hens – roosters and hens – embryos that have been genetically modified to prevent their genital cells. Chickens are better than pigeons as surrogates, because as non -flying birds are easier to keep them, and because scientists already know how genetically they are sterile, the company said, making them more suitable for tasks.
The main goal is to edit the Nicobar Pigeon PGC will continue to develop into functional eggs and sperm, and when the offspring of those modified roosters and chicken hatches, chicken eggs and sperm cells will be in the geod -type genetic features.
“Together, these progress-brand PGC culture and gene edited chickens who do not make their own PGC-rail grounds for using surrogate hens to help return Dodo relatives and ultimately Dodo itself,” said in a statement.
The whole process will take at least five to seven years, said Ben Lammas, CEO of the company.
Qualified as “extinction” statements
Simple pigeons live in cities around the world, including them in Berlin Park. – Wolfram Steinberg/DPA/Picture Alliance/Getty Images
Critics say that although Colossal researchers are refining the field of genetic engineering, it is really impossible to revive an extinct animal – any attempt could only be created by a genetically modified, hybrid type. Conservation that conservationists say that otherwise the risk is detrimental to the urgency of existing species and ecosystems.
The company said its purpose is not to return what is 100% genetically identical to extinct species, but to create functional copies with basic features.
“Dodos belonged to the family of pigeons and pigeons. So, as much as the dodos shared many genes, the in common with the Nicobar pigeon, theoretically, this would mean that scientists only have to insert dodo-tanks into the genus into the genus, or edit pigeon genes to be similar.
However, he said it was impossible to return the extinct species because these animals were much more than a collection of genes. “During development, our genome interacts with parents’ genomes, hormones and the environment that genes are turned on or off in complex ways that we cannot know and cannot repeat the extinct species,” he noted.
“Although there is impressive genetic engineering to insert genes from extinct species into current species, it is hyperbole that it is called extinction.”
A broader application for Colossal Work
The new technology developed by Colossal has valuable potentials in the preservation of birds, especially in places where the existing bird populations have little genetic variations, says Cock van Oosterhout, a genetics professor in the UK Evolution of Evolution of Evolution of East England at the East England School of Environment. However, the true utility of the Van Oosterhout is not the revitalization of Dodo, but by applying the company’s findings to help the species recover.
The modification of endangered species of genes could help them to better adapt to decreasing habitats or diseases that threaten, said Van Oosterhout, who was donated for his work for his work for his endangered pink April.
“Can we find a resistant option now, perhaps in a historical sample, or maybe very closely related to the species that, to our knowledge, is resistant to that pathogen, and can we edit it back to general populations?” asked Van Oosterhout.
Colossal Jurassic Park style flaming science attracts sponsors with deep pockets that are usually not interested in preserving biodiversity, allowing the company to solve problems that have long been avoided by many academic researchers, added Van Oosterhout.
But the genome editing is just one small piece of a much bigger puzzle that is difficult to solve, he said. “What we need to do as a society will certainly prevent the extinction, preventing habitat loss. Technology cannot solve the biodiversity crisis. This can save several species, but it is not a magical bullet.”
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