Looks like the mammoths are coming again, and very soon we would be sharing the earth with them, as scientists at the Harvard University have revealed that they are just two years away from creating a hybrid woolly mammoth embryo.
They would be making the embryo using the technique of gene editing, to incorporate characteristics of the woolly mammoth into an elephant.
The woolly mammoths dwelt across Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America, before they were wiped off the earth 4,500 years ago.
The team of scientists has identified DNA sequences for mammoth features such as long hair, small ears, thick layer of fat, and blood adapted to cold climates.
These genes, which were extracted from mammoth specimens frozen in Siberian ice, are spliced into the DNA of an Asian elephant, using the gene editing technique known as CRISPR.
Since the beginning of the de-extinction project in 2015, scientists have merged 45 DNA edits into elephant genome.
The nucleus of an elephant egg cell is removed and replaced by the nucleus containing the mammoth genes. This egg cell would then be stimulated to develop into an embryo and multiply.
The embryo requires nurturing in an artificial womb, considering the endangered status of the Asian elephant, also raising ethical concerns.
“We’re working on ways to evaluate the impact of all these edits and basically trying to establish embryo-genesis in the lab,” said Professor George Church, who heads the team.
Church explained that the project could secure an alternative future for the endangered Asian elephant, while also helping to combat global warming. The mammoths keep the tundra from thawing by punching through the snow and allow cold air to come in. They prevent the melting of ice and the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
“Our aim is to produce a hybrid elephant/mammoth embryo. Actually, it would be more like an elephant with a number of mammoth traits,” he said. “We’re not there yet, but it could happen in a couple of years.”
