Article Author:
Bloomberg News
Kevin Shimauchi
Trying to revive woolly mammoths A Dallas-based company has announced a new initiative to bring back the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine. Marsupials were declared extinct in his 1930s.
Colossal Biosciences was founded in September 2021 by Harvard geneticist George Church and tech entrepreneur Ben Lam with his $15 million seed funding. rice field. The company has raised another $60 million six months after launch, despite doubts about the feasibility of reviving an extinct species Winklevoss Capital Management, motivational speaker Tony Robbins , Paris Hilton is one of his investors.
Colossal executives and are working to rebalance Australia's ecosystem by restoring thylacine, once widespread across mainland Australia and the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. say they can help Its have suffered sustained biodiversity loss over decades.
The Tasmanian tiger was unique among marsupials with its iconic wolf-like appearance and fresh meat eating. It is a docile animal with thick black stripes on its body, and when fully grown measures about six feet from tip of nose to tip of tail. did. The thylacine was driven to extinction by European settlers who saw it as a threat to Tasmania's sheep industry.
Colossal harvested cells from thylacin's closest living relatives, such as Dunnert, to extract thylacin DNA. I'm planning to genetically manipulate .
"Actually, you're putting all these genomic changes into that living cell. And at the end, you're left with a cell. This is a thylacine cell. You can put that cell back." Evolutionary biologist Andrew Pask, who is leading Colossal's efforts to revive the animals, said: Similarly, Colossal is combining genetic material from Asian elephants with frozen mammoth DNA.
Not all experts are convinced by Colossus' plans, critics say such experiments are distracting.
Paleogeneticist at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark Thomas Gilbert, , tested the feasibility of reviving Christmas Island or Maclear rats.Gilbert's team used well-preserved DNA samples and DNA samples from the animal's cousin, the Norwegian rat . But even with that much information, the researchers were unable to sequence the remaining 5% of the MacLear rat genome. were excluding important attributes such as immunity and olfaction. "You can't always change any of them without it," Gilbert said in an interview. 60}
However, Michael Archer, a paleontologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and not affiliated with Colossal Biosciences, believes that non-extinction efforts are fundamentally necessary. .
"It can be very challenging and certainly a lot of work, but one thing is certain: if you don't try these things, extinct animals will definitely It remains extinct," he said . "Some projects move quickly. Others take longer. In principle, there is no fundamental reason why extinction should not be possible now or in the near future."
Colossal's latest funding round attracted investment from entertainment figures including former Legendary Entertainment CEO Thomas Tull and the Hemsworth family.
“The extinction of the Tussy Tiger has had a devastating impact on our ecosystem. I'm excited," said actor Chris Hemsworth. in a statement.
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