Scientists have recently created mice with characteristics of the now-extinct species of wooly mammoth. First, scientists genetically modified mice embryos to add the typical hair structure and different lipid metabolism of the extinct species. They identified these traits by analyzing the genome of African elephants through innovative DNA modification techniques like CRISPR/Cas9; the injection of modified murine embryonic stem cells (mESCs) into blastocysts; a high-efficiency chimera production through injection of gene-edited mESCs into 8-cell stage embryos; and direct zygotic modification through electroporation, allowing for in vivo study of gene function of wooly mammoth mice. After being genetically modified, these embryos were implanted in female lab mice that birthed the “wooly” offspring. This process has been a monumental step for Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based company founded in 2021 by Havard professor Dr. George Church. It creates a new-found hope in the company that new technology can persist in its effort to bring back extinct animals. “This is really validation that what we have in mind for our longer-term de-extinction project is really going to work,” says Beth Shapiro, the chief researcher who spearheaded this project.
But the ethics of this has raised significant questions, and the project doesn’t go without critics. Some researchers think that investing money into conservation projects that can help animals near extinction is a better choice than investing excessively to bring already extinct animals back. “Extinction of genome-modified organisms as a conservation tool I believe is a distraction from the work that needs to be done” to conserve species, says Gabriela Mastromonaco, a senior director of wildlife science at the Toronto Zoo. Additionally, in 2019, Heather Browning wrote in her article “De-extinction and Animal Welfare” that “many new mammoth babies would likely suffer and die young in the early stages of de-extinction. The cloning stage also carries risks for the surrogate mothers, who will have no choice about their participation in the project.” Additionally, the impact of new wooly mammoths in the environment is uncertain. Addressing these, Shapiro’s team argues that their “intention is to re-create these extinct species that played really important roles in ecosystems that are missing because they’ve become extinct,” claiming that the mice are necessary for the betterment of the environment.
Eventually, Colossal Biosciences hopes to produce mammoth-like Asian elephant embryos by next year and their first calves by 2028. Whether or not we are headed to the next “Jurassic Park” is still unclear, but now more than ever, humans have wielded the power and potential to substantially innovate our environment into a drastically different place.
Works Cited;
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.03.641227v1.full
