The flightless dodo bird, native to the island of Mauritius and a symbol of man-made extinction, may not be the dummy you think it is. The bird, once abundant on the island, became extinct in the late 17th century due to overhunting and habitat destruction by Dutch settlers – not because it was stupid. Today, the dodo bird is a shining example of the cost of carelessness and the need for conservation efforts.
Great, di The biosciences company behind an effort To bring back the dodo, highlighting the importance of restoring endangered species. With this in mind, Colossal has partnered with the government of Mauritius to establish a foundation to euthanize and rehabilitate the beloved bird. Basically, Colossal has partnered with the local government to create a safer, kid-friendly version of Jurassic Park.
However, there are challenges. A reliable reference genome is needed to bring the dodo back from extinction. To address this, Colossal plans to generate high-quality avian genomes that can be used for multi-genome alignments, comparative analyses, and phenotype predictions that will guide the genome editing process. Remember how they used frog DNA in Jurassic Park to complete the sequence of dinosaur genomes? Yes, life really does imitate art. Their approach will involve ‘extensive screening’ to optimize growth parameters of Nicobar pigeon germ cells, which will serve as host cells/genomes for engineering. Frog
In addition to the reference genome, Colossal will serve to advance avian reproduction by demonstrating interspecies germline transfer of pigeon germ cells into surrogate chickens. This will allow the company to develop Dodo very quickly. In short, they’ll have hens laying dodo eggs… they’ll also use machine learning to create more efficient editing tools that can shorten the timeline for success. Finally, Colossal will serve to optimize multiplex genome editing for high-throughput engineering and eliminate more distantly related species. We think this means they will try to recreate the island as it was before the Dutch settlers arrived and the bird was wiped out. Scientists, leave your opinion in the comments.
Colossal aims to use the dodo as a beacon of hope for other conservation efforts. He believes that the revival of the dodo will be a movement and a testament to the power of science and technology to bring the species back from the brink of extinction. And presumably, to help sell tickets to “Dodo Park.”
Dodo bird recovery is a complex and challenging task, but Colossal is moving the ball forward. They have partnered with the island of Mauritius to establish a foundation to eradicate and revive this mute bird that we all love so much. With a reliable reference genome, advances in avian reproduction, and machine learning, Colossal believes it can bring the dodo back from extinction and set the trend for other species to grow and rebuild.
Source : Colossal.com
