The study of the terrible genome of the wolf also allowed the colossal team to understand what presents the former wolf of his modern parents. They settled on features involving the size, the musculature, the hair color, the hair texture, the length of the hair and the coat pattern. They then used gene edition to modify the genome of the cells of the living parent closest to the wolf, the gray wolf. In total, the company made 20 unique modifications at 14 genes in the gray wolf genome. Among these, 15 were supposed to reproduce variants of extinguished wolf wolf genes. Colossal says that this is a record number of unique genetic changes made to any animal.
But the terrible genome of the wolf is still almost identical to that of the gray wolf. This raises a delicate question: are these wolves really disastrous or simply gray wolves published in genes? Lamm, of course, says that animals are disastrous wolves. “We call them disastrous wolves,” he says. “What is interesting is that the speciation is an area where scientists do not seem to agree.” A species is often defined by a combination of genetic characteristics and physically visible, including teeth and shape, size and color of their body.
George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard University who co -founded the company with Lamm, said that the objective is possibly producing an animal with the complete genome of an off -peak wolf. “In the meantime, we deprive all the traits that really define the species,” he says.
Shapiro, too, says that the changes are important enough to call the new terrible wolves. “If we can look at this animal and see what it does, and it looks like a disastrous wolf and acts like a disastrous wolf, I will call it a disastrous wolf. And my colleagues who are taxomists will disagree with me.”
David Jachowski, professor of conservation at the University of Clemson in South Carolina, says that there is “intrinsically a subjectivity” with regard to the definition of species and that the role that an animal plays in its ecosystem can be as important as its genetics. There is also a “enormous marketing value for fauna conservation” to declare an outdated species, explains Jachowski, which did not know specific details on the Loup Désir project.
To make the terrible wolf, Colossal started with blood taken from a gray wolf. Working on a type of blood cell called epithelial progenitor cell, the team has published DNA so that it corresponds more closely to the genome of the wolf desire. They then took the genetic material of this cell and placed it in the egg cell of a domestic dog which had removed its genetic material. Once this egg cell has turned into an embryo, it was implanted in a substitution dog.
It took eight substitutes and an average of 45 embryos per alternative mother to obtain the wolf crust. Two substitutes gave birth to Romulus and Remus, and a third produced Khaleesi. Five of the embryo transfers did not lead to successful pregnancies. A second woman was born in January alongside Khaleesi, but she died after 10 days of an intestine infection.
