(CNN) – Reviving extinct creatures is the soul of science fiction. In its most tempting version, think of Jurassic Park and its dinosaur stable.
However, advances in genetics are making the resurrection of extinct animals a tangible possibility. Scientists have already cloned endangered animals, and can sequence DNA extracted from the bones and carcasses of long-extinct animals.
In this regard, geneticists led by George Church of Harvard Medical School aim to bring back to life the woolly mammoth, which disappeared 4,000 years ago, imagining a future in which the giant with tusks from the Age of Ice is returned to its natural habitat.
These efforts received a major boost on Monday with the announcement of a $ 15 million investment.
The goal: to create a living hybrid of elephant and mammoth
Proponents say bringing the mammoth back in a modified form could help restore the fragile Arctic tundra ecosystem, combat the climate crisis, and preserve the endangered Asian elephant with which the mammoth llanut is more closely related. However, this is a bold plan full of ethical issues.
The goal is not to clone a mammoth – the DNA that scientists have managed to extract from the remains of frozen woolly mammoths in the permafrost is too fragmented and degraded – but to create, through genetic engineering, a living hybrid of elephant and mammoth that walk and be visually indistinguishable from its extinct predecessor.
“Our goal is to have the first offspring in the next four or six years,” says technology entrepreneur Ben Lamm, who along with Church co-founded Colossal, a bioscience and genetics company to support the project.
George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, spoke on stage during the 2016 New Yorker TechFest in New York City.
Resurrect the mammoth? “Now we can really do it”
The recent investment and new approach provided by Lamm and his investors is a big step forward, says Church, a Robert Winthrop professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.
“Until 2021, it has been a project that was left in the background, frankly (…). But now we can really do it,” Church said. “That’s going to change everything.”
Church has been at the forefront of genomics, including the use of CRISPR, the revolutionary gene editing tool described as a rewriting of the code of life, to alter the characteristics of living species. His work on creating pig organs that are compatible with the human body means that a kidney for a patient who desperately needs a transplant could one day come from a pig.
“We had to make a lot of (genetic) changes, 42 so far to make them compatible with humans. And in this case we have very healthy pigs that breed and donate organs for preclinical trials at Massachusetts General Hospital,” he said. explained.
“With the elephant it’s a different goal, but it’s a similar number of changes,” he added.
More than 50 changes in the genetic code of the Asian elephant
The research team has analyzed the genomes of 23 living species of elephants and extinct mammoths, Church said. Scientists believe they will have to simultaneously program “more than 50 changes” in the Asian elephant’s genetic code to give it the traits needed to survive and thrive in the Arctic.
These features, according to Church, include a 10-centimeter layer of insulating grease, five different types of velvety hair, including one up to a meter long, and smaller ears that will help the hybrid tolerate the cold. The team also plans to try to keep the animal from having fangs so that it is not a target of ivory poachers.
Once a cell with these and other traits has been successfully programmed, Church plans to use an artificial uterus to make the transition from embryo to baby, something that takes 22 months in living elephants. However, this technology is far from consolidated, and Church said they had not ruled out the use of live elephants as parents.
“The editing process, I think, is going to go well. We have a lot of experience with that, making artificial bellies is not guaranteed. It’s one of the few things that isn’t pure engineering, maybe there’s also a bit of science, the which always increases uncertainty and delivery time, ”he noted.
skepticism
Love Dalén, a professor of evolutionary genetics at the Stockholm Paleogenetics Center working on the evolution of mammoths, believes that the work done by Church and his team has scientific value, especially in terms of species conservation. in danger of extinction with genetic diseases or lack of genetic variation as a result of inbreeding.
“If endangered species have lost anything that is important to them … the ability to return them to endangered species could be really important,” said Dalén, who is not involved in the project.
“I keep wondering what the biggest goal would be. First, you’re not going to get a mammoth. It’s a furry elephant with some fat deposits,” he said.
“We, of course, have very little idea of what genes make a mammoth a mammoth. We know a little bit, but we certainly don’t know far enough.”
ethical issues
Others argue that it is unethical to use live elephants as substitutes to give birth to a genetically modified animal. Dalén described mammoths and Asian elephants as as different as humans and chimpanzees.
“Let’s say it works and there are no horrible consequences. No surrogate mothers of elephants die,” said Tori Herridge, an evolutionary biologist and mammoth specialist at the Natural History Museum in London who is not involved in the project.
“The idea is that by bringing mammoths back and placing them in the Arctic, the Arctic is being designed to become a better place for carbon storage. This aspect poses several problems for me,” he said. .
Hypothesis in doubt
Some believe that, before their extinction, grazing animals, such as mammoths, horses, and bison, kept the prairies in the northern parts of our planet and kept the frozen ground beneath by trampling on grass, felling trees, and compacting the snow. The reintroduction of mammoths and other large mammals into these sites will help revitalize these environments and curb permafrost thawing and carbon release.
However, both Dalén and Herridige stated that there is no evidence to support this hypothesis, and that it is difficult to imagine that cold-adapted elephant herds have any impact on an environment that is fighting forest fires. , full of mudflats and that heats up faster than any other part of the world.
“There’s absolutely nothing to say that putting mammoths here will have any effect on climate change,” Dalén said.
A different goal
Ultimately, the proposed end goal of nomadic mammoth herds as ecosystem engineers may not matter, and neither Herridge nor Dalén criticize Church and Lamm for embarking on the project. Many people would be happy to pay to approach a surrogate mammoth.
“Maybe it’s fun to exhibit at the zoo. I have no problem with that if they want to put them in some park and, you know, get the kids more interested in the past,” Dalén commented.
There is no pressure for the project to make money, Lamm said. He hopes the project will translate into innovations that have applications in biotechnology and healthcare. He compared it to the way the Apollo project got people interested in space exploration, but it also resulted in a lot of amazing technology, like GPS.
“I’m absolutely fascinated by that. I’m attracted to people who are technologically adventurous and it can be a positive change,” said Herridge, the mammal expert.