"As a scientist, what I would like to see are technologies that are developing and help living species survive," Shapiro said. Shapiro said the methods and discoveries made during the dodo process could have implications for some living bird species in danger of extinction. And then there's also a big need for us to develop new tools in advance some of the existing tools at a genomic scale," Lamm said. It's a huge problem and there's not enough money that's really going into avian conservation. "Birds are going extinct at an alarming rate. Lamm said the company's latest focus comes as bird populations have declined in recent years. Shapiro said because pigeons are a diverse group of birds and it's unclear how many millions of years they diverged, its not clear how many edits will be needed to bring back a dodo-like creature. The company will be pairing dodo DNA with the genome of the Nicobar pigeon, the extinct bird's closest living relative. "Then you'll have a bird that was totally normal and unedited, but their germ cells are edited and those germ cells are what we will then use to do that next generation to help move its evolution down a path." And those (cells) will migrate on the outside of the embryo and establish themselves with the sperm or eggs of the next generation," Shapiro said. "We can edit those cells, then we can reinject them back into an egg. Once an egg is laid, scientists can use tools to remove cells that can then be grown in a lab. The technique has prevously been used with chicken eggs. Shapiro said there are a number of tools being developed to work with bird gene editing, and the one Colossal sees as most promising will be working with primordial germ cells, or cells that eventually become sperm or eggs. That means the company will need to take different approaches to work its way toward a functional dodo. Unlike the other animals Colossal is working on, birds can't be "cloned," Lamm said. We can develop tools that we can use to protect living species going away from becoming this next species." "Today, we have technologies, including biotechnology. "Being able to recreate something that is functionally similar to an extinct species that's as prevalent in people's minds as the dodo is hopefully going to create a little bit of enthusiasm for thinking about consequences of human cost extinctions," Shapiro said. The plan is to eventually reintroduce the animals into their environments, which will help restore ecosystem rebalance. Like with the other animals, the Colossal team will not be creating an exact clone of the dodo bird, but a hybrid that selects the specific traits most commonly associated with the animal and its ability to live in its respective natural environment. Shapiro, an evolutionary molecular biologist, has also been working on researching the dodo and reconstructing its DNA prior to joining Colossal. Beth Shapiro, a paleogeneticist, will be leading the effort to bring back the bird. More: Already trying to restore the mammoth, Austin entrepreneur's startup also wants to bring back the Tasmanian tiger How might they create a dodo hybrid?Ĭolossal is establishing an Avian Genomics Group that will be focused on the dodo. The company has offices in Austin, Dallas and Boston and also works with a team at the University of Melbourne.Ĭolossal plans to use breakthrough gene-editing technologies to restore extinct animals, and has been working to develop a range of innovative technologies. We know that it was well established when Dutch sailors became the first human visitors to Mauritius in 1598, but there’s still so much more about the dodo that we don’t understand.Colossal Biosciences, which this week announced a new $150 million funding round, is led by Austin-based entrepreneur Ben Lamm and geneticist George Church of Harvard Medical School, was formed in 2021 with the goal of advancing the field of de-extinction and combating climate change. Some sources claim that the name came from 16th century Portuguese sailors who called them ‘doudo’, meaning ‘fool’ or ‘crazy.’ The word ‘dodo’ isn’t exactly kind either.Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus, who devised the modern system of naming organisms, bought into the misconception that dodos were clumsy and stupid.In reference to this, and the dodo’s portly frame, they called the dodos ‘kermisgans.’ The day after they weighed anchor in Mauritius, the Dutch crew of the Gelderland observed the festival of Kermesse, which involved eating fattened fowl.They called the dodo ‘walchvögel’ or ‘repulsive bird.’ Seafarers who ate dodo meat, described it as tough and unpleasant.The Dutch sailors of the day dubbed dodos as ‘dodaersen’ or ‘fat-arses,’ because of the birds’ generously-proportioned backsides.
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