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Scientists at the company Colossal Biosciences have derived induced pluripotent stem cells from elephants, which they say could boost efforts to resurrect woolly mammoths.
Scientists have made a stem cell breakthrough in elephants, which could mean researchers are one step closer to bringing back long-extinct woolly mammoths, the de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences has announced.
In a statement shared with Live Science, Colossal's Woolly Mammoth team says it has successfully derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). iPSCs are cells that have been reprogrammed so they can give rise to any cell type in the body, meaning researchers will now be able to investigate the adaptations that differentiate woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) from their closest living relatives and test gene edits without having to take tissue from living animals.
"These cells definitely are a great benefit to our de-extinction work," Eriona Hysolli, the head of biological sciences and mammoth lead at Colossal Biosciences, told Live Science. What's crucial about them, Hysolli said, is that they can reveal the cellular and genetic processes behind features that helped woolly mammoths thrive in the Arctic. These features include shaggy hair, curved tusks, fat deposits and a dome-shaped cranium.
iPSCs also open a path to creating elephant sperm and egg cells, which are essential for mammoth de-extinction, in the lab. With fewer than 52,000 Asian elephants left in the wild, according to WWF, harvesting cells from these animals would prove difficult and undesirable.
www.livescience.com
Scientists have made a stem cell breakthrough in elephants, which could mean researchers are one step closer to bringing back long-extinct woolly mammoths, the de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences has announced.
In a statement shared with Live Science, Colossal's Woolly Mammoth team says it has successfully derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). iPSCs are cells that have been reprogrammed so they can give rise to any cell type in the body, meaning researchers will now be able to investigate the adaptations that differentiate woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) from their closest living relatives and test gene edits without having to take tissue from living animals.
"These cells definitely are a great benefit to our de-extinction work," Eriona Hysolli, the head of biological sciences and mammoth lead at Colossal Biosciences, told Live Science. What's crucial about them, Hysolli said, is that they can reveal the cellular and genetic processes behind features that helped woolly mammoths thrive in the Arctic. These features include shaggy hair, curved tusks, fat deposits and a dome-shaped cranium.
iPSCs also open a path to creating elephant sperm and egg cells, which are essential for mammoth de-extinction, in the lab. With fewer than 52,000 Asian elephants left in the wild, according to WWF, harvesting cells from these animals would prove difficult and undesirable.
Woolly mammoth de-extinction inches closer after elephant stem cell breakthrough
Scientists at the company Colossal Biosciences have derived induced pluripotent stem cells from elephants, which they say could boost efforts to resurrect woolly mammoths.
