A kind of wolf that had been extinguished about 12,500 years ago lives again as the “first successful successful animal in the world”, according to the Biotechnology company BIOSCIENCES, based in Dallas.
Colossal scientists have created three young wolf puppies using old DNA, cloning, and genetic editing technology to alter the wolf genes, the nearest living relative of the prehistoric wolf, the company announced on Monday. The result is essentially a similar hybrid species in appearance to its extinct precursor.
The Terrible Wolf, Aenocyon diruswhich was the inspiration for the fearsome canine presented on the HBO TV series “Game of Thrones”, was a dominant predator who inhabited North America. The icing wolves were larger than the slim wolves and “had a slightly wider head, a stronger thick and stronger jaw,” the company said.
Colossal has been working to resurrect the mammoth, Dodo and Tiger-of-Tigania since 2021, but the company had not previously released its work with wolves.
“This massive milestone is the first of many examples that demonstrate that our decisive technology works,” said Ben Lamm, co -founder and CEO of Colossal, in a statement. “Our team caught DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy puppies of anterible wolf.”
The three-wolves live in a 809-hectare site, surrounded by a 3 meter high, where they are monitored by safety personnel, drones and live cameras. Colossal said the installation was certified by the American Humane Society and registered with the US Department of Agriculture.
Terrible lob fossils and ancient DNA
Using ancient DNA extracted from two fossils from Terrible Wolf, Colossal scientists and collaborators said they managed to assemble two high quality genomes from Aenocyon Dirus, or complete sets of genetic information.
The team compared the genomes with those of living canids, such as wolves, plumbers and foxes, to identify the genetic variants of specific characteristics of the terrible wolves, such as white coats and the longest and thick.
The company then used genetic analysis information to change sinzing wolf cells, making 20 editions in 14 genes before cloning the most promising cell lines and transferring them to donor eggs, according to the statement.
“Embryos in healthy development were then transferred to substitute mothers for interspecies pregnancy,” with three pregnancies that led to the births of the first dextint species, revealed the colossal in his statement. The company confirmed to CNN which used domestic dogs – specifically large and mestizo dogs – as substitutes.
Two male pups of Terrible Wolf were born on October 1, 2024, while a female was born on January 30, 2025, according to Colossal Biosciences.
Genetic Edition for Desextination
To achieve its goal, the company essentially created a hybrid genome using CRISPR technology to remove certain genetic variants of the sinker wolf and replace them with characteristics associated with the wolves, said Love Dallen, professor of evolutionary genomics at the University of Stockholm Paleogenetics and Colossal Consultant.
“It’s no secret that throughout the genome, this is 99.9% of a scrub. There will be a debate in the scientific community about how many genes need to be changed to make a terrible wolf, but this is really a philosophical matter,” said Dallen.
“He carries genes of a lobe, and these genes make him look more like a terrible wolf than anything we have seen in the last 13,000 years. And that’s really cool.”
Dallen, who said she was involved “a little” in the analysis of prehistoric wolf genomes, but did not personally know the prehistoric wolf puppies or got involved in the process of genetic editing or cloning, said that the work of scientists was a “big leap” about everything that was done in the area in the past.
“The way I see this is what they resurrected the phenotype of the terrible wolf (the observable characteristics of a species) and we know from the genome that they probably looked like these puppies. For me, it’s a terrible wolf in this regard,” he said.
Colossal has raised at least $ 435 million since Lamm, a serial entrepreneur, and George Church, a geneticist at Harvard University, founded the company in September 2021 and announced plans for the first time to resurrect the mammoth. This venture took more time than Lamm initially designed, with the company saying that it is on the way to present the first hardworking calves in 2028.
The company expects the same technologies that have created the terrible wolf can also directly help endangered animals. Colossal announced on Monday that it produced two cloned red lobes, the most critically threatened species of wolf, using a new less invasive cloning approach developed during terrible lobe research.
Many decisive critics argue that the huge sums of money invested in the project could be better spent elsewhere – and that raising and reproducing hybrid creatures could endanger live animals used as substitutes. However, Christopher Preston, professor of environmental philosophy at Montana, said Colossal seems to be paying attention to animal welfare issues, observing the size of the installation and support of the American humanitarian society.
“Colossal has taken careful precautions to avoid any unintentional genetic consequences of its editions, eliminating risky editions known to be associated with bad results,” he added.
But he said it is hard to imagine the terrible wolves playing a role in an ecosystem, a result that the company said is the ultimate goal of their efforts to create genetically modified mammoths.
“In states like Montana, we are currently having difficulty maintaining a healthy population of gray wolves in the territory due to strong political opposition,” Preston said. “It’s hard to imagine terrible wolves being loose and taking an ecological role. So I think it’s important to ask what role the new animals will serve.”
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This content was originally published in Understand Genetic Modification Technology used to recreate wolf on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
