Although small, this laboratory rat can have a gigantic impact.
With curly mustaches and light wavy hair that grows three times more than those of a common laboratory rat, the genetically modified rodent incorporates several traits similar to those of Lanoso mammoth, according to the Biosal Bioscient Biotechnology company.
The private company of Dallas, in the United States, is behind efforts to resurrect mammoth and other extinct animals.
The company said its wraich mouse would allow scientists to test hypotheses about the connection between specific DNA sequences and physical characteristics that allowed mammoth, extinct for about 4,000 years, to adapt to life in cold climates.
“It is an important step in validating our approach to resurrect characteristics that have been lost to extinction and that our goal is to restore,” said Dr. Beth Shapiro, Colossal’s scientific director, in a press release on Tuesday (4).
How to make the hairy rat
To create the wool mouse, Colossal said it had identified genetic variants in which mammoths differ from their closer living relative: The Asian elephant.
The company scientists then identified 10 variants related to hair length, thickness, texture, color and body fat that corresponded to similar and known DNA variants in a laboratory rat.
For example, scientists have targeted a gene known as FGF5 (fibroblast growth factor 5), which aims at the hair growth cycle, creating longer and wretched hair. They also changed the role of three genes related to the development and structure of the hair follicle to create laceful hair texture, wavy coats and curled mustaches, the company said in a press release.
Other target genes included MC1R (melanocortin 1 receiver), which regulates melanin production to produce golden hair rather than the usual hair and a variant associated with changes in body weight.
In total, the team made eight editions simultaneously, using three state -of -the -art techniques in seven mice genes.
Colossal shared an unpublished scientific article, or prepressed, describing the research, which did not undergo peer review.
“I think the ability to edit multiple genes at the same time on mice, and doing it and getting the expected lranco appearance, is a very important step,” said Love Dallen, professor of evolutionary genomics at the University of Stockholm. Dalen is a consultant for Colossal and was co -author of the article.
“It is a proof of principle that colossal has the know-how to do this kind of genetic editing, including the insertion of gigantic genetic variants in a different species.”
Just “cute and hairy rats”?
The research described in the unpublished article was technically impressive and the precise and efficient genetic changes, said Robin Lovell-Badge, head of the Stem Cell Biology Laboratory and Development Genetics at the Francis Crick Institute in London.
“My biggest problem with the article is that there is nothing addressing whether the modified mice are tolerant to the cold-through the introduction of characteristics that are apparent in mammoths-which is the justification given to the work,” added Lovell-Badge.
“The way it is, we have some hairy and cute mice, without any understanding of your physiology, behavior, etc. This does not make them closer to knowing if they would eventually be able to give an elephant mammoth features, and we learned little about biology. ”
Colossal raised US $ 435 million (About R $ 2, 5 billion) Since it was founded in 2021 by entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard University geneticist George Church.
THE Company plans to recreate the mammoth, Dodo and Tiger of Tasmania or tilacino, editing the genome of the living relative closer to each species to create a hybrid animal that would be visually indistinguishable from its extinct predecessor. In the end, the Company wants to restore fauna to its natural habitat.
In the case of mammoths, the company argues that having mammoth -like creatures wandering around the Arctic would compress the snow and grass that isolate the soil, reducing the permafrost defrost rate and the carbon release contained in this fragile ecosystem. Colossal said previously that it is On the way to introduce the first shells of woolly mammoth by 2028.
Skeptics argue that the huge sums of money invested in the project could be better spent elsewhere. Create and reproduce hybrid animals, they say, could endanger live animals used as substitutes.
“Although we know a lot about mice genetics, we know much less about mammoths and elephants. It is not yet known which genome sections are vital to reaching (necessary) characters to make an elephant fit for life in the Arctic Polar Circle, ”said Tori Herridge, senior professor at Sheffield University Biosciences School, in a statement shared by Science Media Center. “Genes that are attached to hair and fat in well -studied animals as mice are obvious targets, but the devil is in the details.”
“Unless you decide to make all the necessary editions… In the genome, you will only create a gross approach of any extinct creature based on an incomplete idea of how it should be. You will never ‘bring back’ a mammoth, ”she added.
Laboratory mice are commonly genetically modified to have certain characteristics, including human characteristics, in order to conduct disease research and drug development.
Rob Taft, the lead scientist at The Jackson Laboratory, a biomedical research institution that helped create humanized laboratory rats, explained that the Lana Rat was an “innovative extension of rat use as a model system and an innovative approach to understanding animal physiology that are now extinct”.
His biggest doubt was how colossal would translate this research back into the elephants.
“Working with mice or even cattle is relatively easy,” said Taft. “We know a lot about reproduction in these species and assisted reproduction technologies are well developed and routinely used in these species, but there is a lot on reproduction of unknown elephants and assisted playback technologies are not well developed for use in elephants.”
This content was originally published in scientists create mammoth characteristics to circumvent extinction on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
