Colossal announced on Tuesday that they have successfully edited seven genes in a mouse embryo, resulting in a mouse with long, thick, wool hair. These specially bred mice are being referred to as “giant wool mice.”
Although the results have been shared online, they have not yet been published in a scientific journal or reviewed by independent experts.
Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University of Buffalo, described the achievement as “technically pretty cool,” even though he was not part of the research team.
Scientists have been genetically modifying mice since the 1970s, but newer technologies like CRISPR have made the process more efficient and accessible, according to Lynch.
The researchers at Colossal examined the DNA database of mouse genes to pinpoint genes related to hair texture and fat metabolism. While these genetic mutations were already present in other mice, they were combined in one mouse in this study.
Two specific traits were selected due to their potential association with cold tolerance, a crucial quality for survival in ancient Arctic grasslands.
Colossal plans to first focus on mice to test the editing process before moving on to editing Asian elephant embryos. Asian elephants are considered the living relatives closest to woolly mammoths.
However, as Asian elephants are an endangered species, there are many regulatory hurdles to overcome before this plan can be put into action, as noted by Lamm from Colossal.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
