Did Scientists Create a Dire Wolf by Gene Editing a Common Gray Wolf?
April 8th, 2025[???]
Via: Time:
The dire wolf once roamed an American range that extended as far south as Venezuela and as far north as Canada, but not a single one has been seen in over 10,000 years, when the species went extinct. Plenty of dire wolf remains have been discovered across the Americas, however, and that presented an opportunity for a company named Colossal Biosciences.
Relying on deft genetic engineering and ancient, preserved DNA, Colossal scientists deciphered the dire wolf genome, rewrote the genetic code of the common gray wolf to match it, and, using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers, brought Romulus, Remus, and their sister, 2-month-old Khaleesi, into the world during three separate births last fall and this winter—effectively for the first time de-extincting a line of beasts whose live gene pool long ago vanished.
A genetic engineering company stunned the world by bringing the ancient dire wolf back from extinction — but it won’t stop there.
The Texas-based Colossal Biosciences also plans to de-extinct the woolly mammoth, the dodo bird and the Tasmanian tiger…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14583499/dire-wolf-species-deextinction-animals-revived.html
Why? Not for the animals’sake. For high-priced fur coats? Feathered hats? Ultra-expensive dinners? Private zoos? And, of course, research in cloning that could eventually help man transform himself.
Joe Rogan left stunned as biotech boss reveals how China has genetically modified ‘super babies’
Ben Lamm, co-founder of Colossal Biosciences – which just announced it has brought the dire wolf back from extinction – explained how Chinese scientists had cloned and modified babies to be resistant to HIV.
But he added there were rumors researchers in Beijing had also been tinkering with genes responsible for human intelligence, which prompted Rogan to let out a shocked ‘ooh.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14583715/Joe-Rogan-China-genetically-modified-HIV-babies.html
No – it is not the same as a historical direwolf. They were able to identify about 20 genes with major functional differences from an arctic wolf, compared to ancient DNA that they were able to extract from a direwolf bone specimen that they found somewhere. Being able to identify these genes and then replace them using CRISPR is a huge achievement. However, there are many many additional genetic differences at hundreds of other genes that they did not attempt to replace. There are lots of polymorphisms or variations between individuals within a species too.