1 week Ago By Ed Cara
The single splashiest bit of science news so far this year arrived earlier this week, when Colossal Biosciences announced that its scientists successfully brought back a version of the dire wolf ( Aenocyon dirus ). In the company’s announcement , Colossal has claimed that its three “dire wolf” siblings, Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi, are the world’s first examples of de-extinction. But not everyone is on board with that assertion.
The wolves were created by genetically editing the DNA of gray wolf cells to more closely resemble that of a dire wolf; this edited DNA then served as the basis for embryos implanted in surrogate dogs. Colossal has argued that these edits—20 in total—were enough to produce wolves that are phenotypically (physically or visibly) similar to the dire wolves that once roamed the Americas tens of thousands of years ago—an approach the company calls “functional de-extinction.” But at least some outside researchers aren’t so sure, arguing that these edits are far too few to truly bridge the genetic gap between today’s wolves and the dire wolves of the past.
For this Giz Asks, we reached out to experts in paleobiology and other relevant fields to get their take on Colossal’s novel—if potentially controversial—feat of genetic engineering. We also solicited a comment from Colossal’s chief science officer, Beth Shapiro, who is herself an evolutionary biologist. The following responses may have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Anders Bergström A biologist specializing in canine evolution and a lecturer at the University of East Anglia’s School of Biological Sciences. Phil Seddon A conservation biologist and professor of zoology at the University of Otago in New Zealand who’s written about the pros and cons of de-extinction . Bradley Schafer A distinguished professor at UCLA in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of Environment and Sustainability, as well as director of the California Conservation Genomics Project .
Beth Shapiro Chief science officer at Colossal Biosciences, and an evolutionary molecular biologist specializing in the genetics of ice age animals and plants..
