How a Des Moines professor helped de-extinct the dire wolf
Why it matters: Julie Meachen's work uncovering ancient animal DNA may help save endangered species or even de-extinct others.
Driving the news: Texas company Colossal Biosciences announced this week that it had successfully edited genes of gray wolves with key features of dire wolves and implanted embryos in surrogate dog mothers.
Three healthy animals with dire wolf characteristics — long, thick white fur and bodies as much as 25% bigger than gray wolves — were born in October and are being kept at an undisclosed U.S. location.
Catch up quick: Meachen is the lead investigator of a team of scientists exploring Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming, where Ice Age animal remains are being studied.
She was among a team of scientists who authored a 2021 paper about the retrieval of DNA from fossils of dire wolves, which went extinct about 13,000 years ago.
Zoom in: Meachen was not involved in creating the wolf pups but provided DNA samples collected from animal remains in Idaho and Ohio to help fine-tune the de-extinction project.
The dire wolf project would have been possible without her input but would not have been as accurate, she tells Axios.
The intrigue: Meachen says she doesn't believe the pups unveiled this week are dire wolves but, instead, are genetically modified gray wolves.
"They are basically transgenic gray wolves with dire wolf DNA inside them," she said.
Yes, but: She said the technology is exciting and is already being used to boost genetic diversity in endangered species.
"Even though the scientist in me is skeptical about creating extinct animals, the kid in me wants to see what they look like," Meachen said.
What's next: Meachen will lead another project at Natural Trap Cave this summer.
Colossal is working on a project that could de-extinct the woolly mammoth.
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Whereas dire wolves only split from modern wolf-like canids — the group that includes gray wolves — around 5.7 million years ago, the common ancestor of the moa and tinamou lived 58 million years ago, while the moa and emu predecessor lived 65 million years ago. During their 'time apart,' the moa developed a lot of unique traits that are difficult to duplicate. 3 Colossal Biosciences is currently working to resurrect the woolly mammoth as well. Courtesy of Colossal To achieve this feat of genetic engineering, the team plans to aims to sequence and reconstruct the genomes of all nine extinct moa species, while also sequencing high-quality genomes of their aforementioned relatives. The team will then use precursors to sperm and egg cells to Frankenstein a 'surrogate bird' from living species and then genetically alter it to resemble a moa. 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'A South Island giant moa egg will not fit inside an emu surrogate, so Colossal will have to develop artificial surrogate egg technology,' said Nic Rawlence, director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Lab at the University of Otago in New Zealand and a critic of the moa plan. Colossal's chief science officer, Beth Shapiro explained that they're exploring 'different strategies for artificial egg incubation, which will have application both for moa de-extinction and bird conservation work.' Of course, there are several criticisms of the project that were directed at prior resurrection campaigns as well. Critics of the dire wolf project claimed that their so-called dire wolf was still genetically a gray wolf with increased size and a white coat. Rawlence even believes that 'genetically engineering specific genes in an emu to match a moa could have dire developmental consequences.' Beth Shapiro told Live Science that animal welfare was a priority, explaining, 'We thoroughly evaluate health risks of any proposed edit before selecting them for our final list of edits.' Jackson believes the project has exciting potential when it comes to reviving lost species. 'There's a lot of science still to be done – but we can start looking forward to the day when birds like the moa or the huia (an extinct NZ bird with a curved bill) are rescued from the darkness of extinction,' he said. 'Even the journey will bring incredible insights about the history of this land and enrich discussions as to the potential nature of our future here.' The moa isn't the only animal Colossal plans to add to its menagerie of long-dead creatures. The biotech firm has also targeted the woolly mammoth for de-extinction — and is a step closer to its goal after engineering a critter called the woolly mouse.
