Barely a month after announcing the creation of the woolly mouse, de-extinction pioneers Colossal Biosciences shared that they have also successfully resurrected the dire wolf.
Estimated to have gone extinct over 10,000 years ago, and the fictional animal of choice of House Stark in hit series “Game of Thrones,” the dire wolf is only one of over 1,000 animal species that have historically gone extinct. With a significant chunk of that number caused by humans, and with more animal and plant species on the brink of extinction today, Colossal sought to slow down, if not reverse, that number.
“With the successful birth of Colossal’s dire wolf, we are one step closer to a world in which these tools are among those at our disposal to help species thrive in their rapidly changing habitats,” says Beth Shapiro, Ph.D., Colossal’s chief science officer.
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From cell to pup: the origins of Remus, Remulus, and Khaleesi
According to Colossal’s reports, the process of bringing back the extinct species began with searching for specimens to draw dire wolf DNA from. They found two usable samples from an international team that previously attempted to study the animal. They then used these to recreate a dire wolf genome sequence.
Following this, Colossal compared the generated dire wolf genome sequence with that of an existing gray wolf. Why? To examine their differences and map out the specific genes they will have to edit in a gray wolf genome to create the desired dire wolf genome.
Why specifically gray wolves? According to Colossal, they needed a viable wolf genome with as little domestic dog DNA as possible. They then shortlisted four gray wolves with undetectable amounts of domestic dog ancestry, which became the base of the dire wolves.
From those generated real dire wolf cells, they then implanted these into the egg cell of any dog or wolf, placed it into a surrogate mother, and out came Remus, Remulus, and Khaleesi.
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Mostly gray wolf?
According to Love Dalén, professor in evolutionary genomics at the Centre for Palaeogenetics at Stockholm University and adviser to Colossal, the resurrected dire wolf is essentially 99.9 percent gray wolf. Does that make this scientific feat any less impressive? Not really.
Just as humans are 98.8 percent chimp, the dire wolf has several key differences in its genes that separate it from a gray wolf, a dog, or any of its descendants. A dire wolf is known to have a wider head and snout, larger jaws and teeth, a white coat, cold-adaptive fur, and a specific gene that makes it larger than its contemporaries.
“One of the core genes discovered by Colossal’s team of experts, was a dire wolf variant of a well-known gene found in canids. Ligand Dependent Nuclear Receptor Corepressor Like, otherwise known as LCORL, played a large role in determining the dire wolf’s increased stature.”
This differential of 0.1 percent is not necessarily a weak point in the experiment, but rather, a testament to the beauty of animal evolution and reproduction—that thousands of years into the future, against time and extinction, the dire wolf finds itself partly, albeit not whole, inside animals we coexist with.
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But through a more philosophical lens, the dire wolf resurrection brings to mind The Ship of Theseus. For the unfamiliar, it is a thought experiment that asks if an object’s identity remains the same even if its parts are replaced over time.
In this context, can we still consider the reborn dire wolf a true dire wolf? What constitutes a true one? Does it require a natural, conventional birth, or are shared likeness and biological similarities sufficient?
Charting a path towards a bright and biodiverse future
Unfortunately for doomsayers, this does not set the precedent for a grim Jurassic Park-esque future. Instead, what it does is bring hope for animals that are currently facing extinction. In our current world where drastically changing PH levels and ecosystems are commonplace, the prospect of switching out certain genes and weaknesses opens up possibilities for adaptability that does not hinge on natural evolution.
Barney Long, Ph.D., senior director of conservation strategies at Colossal puts it best, “Today’s dire wolf announcement represents an exciting scientific step and demonstrates the power and possibilities of genetic technologies. These technologies will likely transform the conservation of critically endangered species that still exist, and we are excited to apply them to prevent extinctions.”
“From restoring lost genes into small, inbred populations to inserting disease resistance into imperiled species, the genetic technologies being developed by Colossal have immense potential to greatly speed up the recovery of species on the brink of extinction.”
