Reported CNN, Tuesday (14/9/2021), a team led by geneticist Church George of Harvard Medical School claimed to be bringing back the woolly mammoth that disappeared 4,000 years ago into its natural habitat.
Bringing back the mammoth could help restore the fragile Arctic tundra ecosystem, combat the climate crisis, and preserve the endangered Asian elephant. Currently, scientists have succeeded in extracting woolly mammoth DNA preserved in Permafrost.
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Church is just a few steps away from realizing his plans, including the use of CRISPR, a revolutionary gene editing tool described as rewriting the code of life, to alter the characteristics of living species.
The research team has analyzed the genomes of 23 species elephant living and extinct mammoths, said Church. Scientists believe they will need to simultaneously program “more than 50 changes” to the Asian elephant’s genetic code to provide the traits needed to bring mammoths back to life and thrive in the Arctic.
These traits, Church said, include a 10-centimeter layer of insulating fat, five different types of shaggy hair including some up to a meter long, and smaller ears that would help the hybrid tolerate cold. The team also plans to try to engineer the animal so it doesn’t have tusks so it doesn’t become a target for ivory hunters.
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Once cells with these and other traits are successfully programmed, Church plans to use an artificial uterus to make the step from embryo to baby, something that takes 22 months for a live elephant. However, the technology is far from perfect, Church said they have not ruled out using elephant life as a substitute.
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