Colossal Biosciences, a US-based startup trying to bring the prehistoric mammoth back from extinction, says it has achieved a first step: the Woolly Mouse.
Using DNA and genomics technologies, scientists have modified the mice to have longer, thicker hair and an altered metabolism expected to allow them to tolerate colder temperatures, the Dallas-based company said on Tuesday — claiming a breakthrough in its mission to revive the long-extinct mammoth.
The company said it is on track to produce a woolly mammoth calf born to a surrogate elephant mother by late 2028.
“Woolly Mouse is not just a feat of engineering,” said chief executive officer and co-founder Ben Lamm. “It’s really proving that our targeted approach to precision editing based on very deep computational analysis works.”
Despite some scepticism from paleo-geneticists, Colossal Biosciences has so far raised $435 million, and was valued at $10.2 billion in a January funding round from TWG Global. The company’s previous backers include high-profile names like Winklevoss Capital Management and celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Peter Jackson and Chris Hemsworth.
The startup aims to eventually use ancient samples found in frozen tundra to edit mammoth genes into those in Asian elephant cells, the mammoth’s closest modern relative. Eventually, it hopes to bring back other extinct species such as the dodo and the Tasmanian tiger, in order to restore lost biodiversity.
The prospect of reintroducing animal species has drawn critiques from some scientists who believe the project isn’t feasible and wouldn’t achieve its aim of promoting ecological harmony.
The company says it created 38 mice, and their survival rate has been comparable to regular mice. The animals will live out their natural life span, and there are no plans to sell them or breed them.
Lamm emphasised that the Woolly Mouse was not the product of putting a mammoth gene in a mouse. The purpose of the experiment was to test the company’s gene-editing processes. The company identified genes in mice that control hair length, thickness, colour and texture, as well as other metabolic traits.
“By engineering multiple cold-tolerant traits from mammoth evolutionary pathways into a living model species, we’ve proven our ability to recreate complex genetic combinations that took nature millions of years to create,” Lamm said in a statement.
The modifications for hair were successful, as seen by the mice’s golden brown and thicker hair. And the altered fat metabolism gene is present in the mice, which should help it withstand the cold — though the company now has to test if the mice will be able to store fat at temperatures below freezing. It is waiting on approval from an ethics board to conduct that experiment.
