Colossal Biosciences has successfully created the world's first 'woolly mice' by engineering them to express traits similar to woolly mammoths using their DNA. This breakthrough demonstrates a significant step in the effort of de-extinction, as the mice exhibit various coat characteristics reminiscent of their ancient cousins. By analyzing the genetic similarities between mammoths and modern Asian elephants, researchers have identified key genes influencing these woolly traits. The ultimate goal is potentially resurrecting woolly mammoths themselves for reintroduction into the wild, showcasing the success of their de-extinction methods.
"The mouse is validation that our de-extinction pipeline - from genomic analysis, to mapping ancient DNA variants to physical traits, to engineering those genetic edits into an animal and observing the predicted changes - is successful."
"Our comparative genomic analyses of mammoths and elephants identified genes that changed in mammoths since mammoths diverged from elephants, which should be important to making mammoths more mammoth-like."
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