De-Extinction of Dire Wolf

News: In a groundbreaking achievement, scientists have successfully revived the dire wolf, an ancient species that went extinct nearly 12,500 years ago, using cutting-edge genetic engineering techniques by Colossal Biosciences. De-Extinction of Dire Wolf.

About De-Extinction

• De-extinction, also known as resurrection biology or species revivalism, is the process of recreating extinct species or organisms using biotechnology, aiming to bring them back to life.

About Dire Wolf (Aenocyon dirus)

• Habitat and Distribution: They were large canines that dominated the grasslands and forestsof southern Canada and the US.
• They resembled the grey/ gray wolves (Canis lupus) of today but were larger, with white coats.
• A dire wolf could be 5 feet tall, more than 6 feet in length, and weigh up to 68 kg.

Science behind De-Extinction Process of Dire Wolf

• The dire wolf genome was extracted from two ancient samples preserved in a American museum of natural history.
• Colossal’s dire wolf work took a less invasive approach (than cloning), isolating cells from the blood (not from a tissue sample) of a grey wolf.
• These cells are known as endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which form the lining of blood vessels.
• The scientists then rewrote the 14 key genes in the cell’s nucleus to match those of the dire wolf using CRISPR.
• No ancient dire wolf DNA was actually spliced into the gray wolf’s genome.
• The edited nucleus was then transferred into a de-nucleated ovum which was allowed to develop into embryos in the lab.
• When ready, embryos were transferred to surrogates, also domestic dogs, and 62 days later the genetically engineered pups were born.
• These “dire wolves” will become the second species on the planet to be brought back to life.
  • The first was the bucardo, a mountain goat from the Pyrenees, Europe.