Why in the News?
Colossal Biosciences, a biotech firm based in US, has successfully bred the extinct Dire Wolf pups using gene-editing technologies.
About Dire Wolf (Aenocyon dirus)
- The dire wolf lived during the Pleistocene Epoch, approximately 6 million to 11,700 years ago, and went extinct around 13,000 years ago.
- Physical Characteristics and Behaviour:
- It was larger than the modern gray wolf, standing about 5 feet tall at the shoulder and weighing up to 150 pounds, significantly heavier than the average gray wolf.
- It had a stockier body, a robust skull, and powerful jaws, adapted for hunting and consuming large prey. It likely had light or white fur, unlike the gray, black, or white coats of modern wolves.
- As an apex predator, the dire wolf primarily preyed on large mammals like bison and horses.
- While it did not hunt in packs as effectively due to its size, it was capable of cooperative hunting when needed.
- Extinction:
- The species went extinct likely due to a combination of prey depletion, climate change, and the impact of human activities.
- Fossils have been found across a wide geographical range, from the La Brea Tar Pits in California to the Mississippi River Valley.
- Genomic Comparison:
- The gene-edited pups share 5% DNA of gray wolves but differ in the remaining 0.5%, which accounts for the dire wolf traits.
- These pups are not exact clones of the dire wolf but are considered “dire wolves” based on their physical resemblance.
Technologies Used for Resurrection:
- Ancient DNA Extraction & Analysis: DNA from 13,000 to 72,000-year-old fossils was sequenced to identify key genetic traits.
- Gene Editing (CRISPR): Scientists used CRISPR to edit gray wolf DNA, introducing features like size, fur color, and muscular traits to resemble the dire wolf.
- Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT): Edited somatic cells from gray wolves were used to create embryos implanted in dog surrogates. Genetically modified pups were born after 62 days.
- Embryo Implantation: The gene-edited embryos developed into the first de-extinct dire wolf pups.
| [UPSC 2018] The term “”sixth mass extinction/sixth extinction”” is often mentioned in the news in the context of the discussion of:
(a) Widespread monoculture practices in agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems. (b) Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65 million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs. (c) Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivation in other parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss of food biodiversity. (d) Mankind’s over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution and global climate change. |
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