A few months ago, the entire press of the planet echoed the progress of Colossal Biosciences scientists when he said he had resurrected the Wolf Huargo de Game de Tronos, better appointed as a giant wolf, which was extinguished 13,000 years ago. Well now, the scientists themselves point out that they are one step away from returning an animal that humans have extinguished: The Dodo bird, a non -flying giant bird that disappeared 400 years ago and became the symbol of extinction.
The dodos belonged to the Palomas family, thus, in theory, scientists would only have to Insert exclusive Dodo genes into the germ cell or modify the pigeon genes to make them similar to those of the dodo. But it is not so easy.
Until now, Colossal Bioscience scientists affirm having managed to cultivate specialized cells of the common dove and its objective is to use equal or similar techniques to cultivate cells of the nearest living relative of the dodo, The Paloma de Nicobar, which belongs to the same family of birds.
The reality is that they are years away from their long -term objective to create a living version of the dodo that is indistinguishable from its extinct predecessorbut this advance has described as a “crucial step.”
“This is a really important step for the Dodo project, but Also for the conservation of birds in general – Explain Beth Shapiro, Colossal Scientific Director – we needed this step to move on, and now that we have it, we are underway. ”
Next to this project, similar efforts are also being carried out for Recover the Lanudo Mammothto the Tilacino (better known as Tasmania’s tiger) and another non -flying bird, The moa.
However, the necessary techniques to relive a bird such as the dodo are different from those necessary for other species, since Birds develop in an ovule and cannot be cloned in the same way as mammals, which makes the process difficult.
“In the case of birds, the slowest part of this process is that we have to create two generations -adds Shapiro -. We cannot clone the cells, so we have to create parents and separate mothers and then cross them to obtain both copies of the gene to be modified. It is quite slow. ”
The key to this advance lies in the fact that Colossal scientists have discovered a way of cultivating a vital cell type, known as primordial germ cell, which It acts as a precursor of the ovules and spermfrom the brave dove (Livia Columba), better known as the common dove, which lives in cities around the world.
The company said it focused on the brave pigeon because This bird reproduces widely and is distant relative of the dodo. Previously, scientists had managed to cultivate primordial germ cells (CGP) of chickens and geese.
“The first cell culture recipe was for chicken CGP and It was published Almost 20 years ago – says Anna Keyte, director of Aviares de Colossal species -. Unfortunately, that recipe has not worked in any other species of Analyzed bird, even in closely related species such as quail. Colossal discovery of a recipe for pigeons drastically expands the avian reproduction technologies and feels the foundations of our work with the dodo. ”
The team tested More than 300 recipes before finding the proper combination of growth factors, molecules and metabolites which allowed Paloma germ cells to grow for 60 days. The details of the investigation, which has not yet been reviewed by pairs, They were published in Biorxiv.
The next steps would be to try to use cells to create live brave pigeons born from a substitute hen, as proof of concept. The latter are preferable to dove as substitutes because, Being non -flying birds, they are easier to maintain and because scientists already know how to modify them genetically to be sterile.
The ultimate goal is that the Paloma de Nicobar stem cells continue The ovules and sperm of the resulting chicks will contain genetic features similar to those of the dodo.
“Together, these advances (the cultivation of dove and genetically edited chickens that do not produce their own stem cells) feel the bases. The objective is to use substitute chickens for help recover the relatives of the Dodo and, eventually, to the dodo himself”Shapiro concludes.