The mice with a golden fragrant rough fur is said to be a step to create a mammoth -like elephant: in the US, gene researchers have presented “woolen hair” with mammoth -like hair. With different methods for genetic engineering, the team of colossal cinemas in Dallas changed different genes of mice in such a way that their hair structure of the mammoth looks like.
The animals illustrated the remarkable progress in the field of genomeditation, said colossal co-founder and Harvard researcher George Church in a message from the company. Among other things, the church was famous for his announcement that he wanted to create a colder elephant that looks like a mammoth and behaves as similar if possible.
Celebrated as a “remarkable milestone”
The production of the woolen hair has not yet been presented by experts in a specialized magazine, the study is only available on a so-called PrePrint server. Nevertheless, the publication in the professional world is very well received. To change different genes with hair growth, at the same time that they are compatible with the genome of a different species, is a “remarkable milestone,” said stem cell researcher Dusko Ilic van King’s College London.
Researchers still see Mammut far away
The American research team initially analyzed from 121 different mammoths and elephants. From this they had selected ten genes in terms of hair texture and fat metabolism that make mammoths more brighter compared to Asian elephants and which were also compatible with the genetic material of mice.
They reached the golden -yellow coat color, for example by changing the MC1R Gen, which is responsible for the production of the melanine color pigment. An adjustment of the FGF5 gene ensures that the hair of the animals is three times longer than normal.
Ethically a new purchase would not be justified
Tori Herridge of the English University of Sheffield, however, notes that less than ten percent of the genetic modified embryos were born alive, and all target genes have changed with very few of the living animals. The transfer of genetic gigantic characteristics to elephants is once more difficult – and not ethically justified.
The geneticist Sergiy Velychko of the Harvard Medical School also said that the applied genome changes were mouse -specific and had nothing to do with elephants or even mammoths. “We have been able to breed mice from cultivated embryonic stem cells since 1981, and the first knockout mice were made in 1989, almost 40 years ago.”
False Hope
Most techniques used in mice could not even be applied to closely related species such as rats – “and certainly not on elephants. Even fundamental reproduction techniques such as superovulation and artificial fertilization have never succeeded in elephants. ” Moreover, unlike mice, elephants reproduce very slowly.
Mice have a gestation period of 20 days, while Asian elephants of 22 months, as the team from Dallas admits itself. That is why it writes that mice are important models to control functional properties of changed woolen hair gods.
“Looking at these mice is a bit like a look in the past, but with a very selective telescope,” said evolutionary biologist Louise Johnson of the English University of Reading. The technology offers the exciting opportunity to check some ideas about extinct organisms. “This is an interesting task, but the idea that we can get something out of extinct is a wrong hope.”
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
