The researcher Beth Shapiro, chief scientist of Colossal Biosciences – Startup that claimed to have recreated a kind of prehistoric wolves – said the company never claimed to have brought the species back from extinction And how about achievement is impossible .
In an interview with New Science on Thursday (22), she argued that “we never hid it. [….] But the point is that we said from the beginning that they are gray wolves with 20 editions.
Shapiro said the company only used the name of the extinguished species to simplify the public’s understanding and that they always made it clear that this was not a “recreation” of the outer wolves.
“It is not possible to bring back something identical to a species that has already existed. […] It is transformative and an innovative science-it is not only dextinization, ”said the chief scientist of Colossal Biosciences.
In an interview with New Science, Richard Grenyer, a researcher at Oxford University, commented that Shapiro’s statement goes against what the company announced about the restoration of extinct animals.
“I believe there is a serious inconsistency between the content of the statement and the actions and advertising material – including the standard content of the site, not just the press briefing about the terrible wolf – of the company,” he said.
Remember the case
Colossal Bioscience startup announced in April that it was able to recreate the kind of prehistoric wolves from an old DNA. They have been extinct for 12,000 years, but the company said three copies were born in October and are being kept in a Nature Reserve of unknown location.
The genetic code was obtained from fragments of terrible wolves recovered from the wells of La Brea, a place of piche-areas where a thick form of crude oil emerges to the earth’s surface-in Los Angeles, United States.
Colossal Biosciences would then have been able to recover the material 500 times more than any team of researchers previously from a 13,000 -year -old tooth and a 72,000 -year -old skull and created the three puppies.
The DNA which, in fact, belonged to the prehistory wolves was not inserted into the gray wolf genome, it was used as a model to be replicated.
Scientists disagreed with the return of extinction
When Colossal Biosciences used the term “des-exposing” to refer to the process and the birth of the three white hair, some scientists disagree that we are witnessing the “rebirth” of a species.
The paleoecologist at the University of Otago, Nic Rawlen, spoke about the announcement on his social networks: “This is not a terrible wolf. It is a gray wolf with characteristics of terrible wolf, a ‘hybrid’.”
In an interview with the BBC, he explained: “Ancient DNA is as if you put fresh DNA in a 500-degree oven at night. It comes out fragmented-like shards and dust. You can rebuild it, but it’s not good enough to do something with it.”
Paleoecologist Jacquielyn Gill of the University of Maine also argued that it is not possible to say that the species returned from extinction in an interview with Scientific American.
“This is a genetically modified gray wolf,” she said. “I have over 14 Neanderthal genes in me, and we wouldn’t call me Neanderthal.”
What is Colossal Biosciences
A biotechnology startup is headquartered in Dallas, United States, and seeks “Redefine the extinction and establish patterns for science behind it, ”according to the official website.
According to the company page, it promotes A functional application of advanced genetic editing technology designed to reconstruct lost megafauna DNA and other creatures that have had a measured impact on ecosystems.
Founded by businessman Ben Lamm and the Geneticist at Harvard University George Church in 2021, Colossal has a contribution of $ 435 million (about $ 2.6 billion).
The company’s advice has several scholars in the area, as well as celebrities such as Chris Hemsworth, George RR Martin, Joe Manganiello, Steve Aoki and Tom Brady.
In addition to the wolves, the intention of the American startup is to reverse the extinction of the dollar mammoths, the tilacinos (known as tigers-tasmania) and the dodot. To accomplish this feat, scientists use old DNA, cloning, and genetic editing technology to alter animal genes that still inhabit, our planet.
Species of wolf extinguished 12,000 years ago is “recreated”; understand
*With information from Flávio Ismerim, Marina Toledo and Fernanda Pinotti, from CNN, and Katie Hunt of CNN Internacional
This content was originally published in a wolf: scientist admits that it is impossible to recreate extinct species 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.
