According to science, Romulo, Remo and Khaleesi are nothing more than ‘genetically modified gray wolves’

Science Fiction had been dreaming for decades Bring extinct species back to life. A few months ago, the American company Colossal cinemas He got the Birth of three dog samples with “terrible” wolf material ((Dread), a prehistoric predator, that disappeared at the end of the last ice ageAbout 13,000 years ago.

The company has presented Romulo, Remo and KhaleesiThree six -months of puppies born thanks to genetic processing techniques that have been applied to DNA Extracted from fossils between 11,500 and 72,000 years of antiquity. The company celebrates the one who First successful ‘De -Sextinction’ of history, Although numerous experts regard this statement as inaccurate.

The director of Otago Paleogenetics Laboratory and assistant professor of the Ministry of ZOology of the University of Otago (New -Zeeland)Nic Rawlence defends that “To really” distract “something should be cloned.”

The DNA of the extinct species is not found in the state of conservation needed to successfully perform this task. Therefore puppies They are not “terrible” wolves, but hybridThose characteristics have the giant wolves, selected by colossal.

The teacher of the same department, Philip Seddon, shares this idea and explains that the wolves and the Dread “They separated from a common ancestor about six million years ago”Which means they are very different species. Romulo, Remo and Khaleesi areIn the words of the specialist, «Transgenic wolves», No “DESXTINTS”.

Rawlence remembers that The ecosystem in which this species lived no longer existsWhat can have a negative influence on its development. The shortage of specimens would also be one endogamy What It would have been surviving.

The expert also regrets that the criterion of the indigenous population in this experiment was not considered. “Personal, I bet I can develop ‘the -Sextinction’ technologies, but use them to keep what we still have. Do not reserve extinct species«, Clarifies.

After the first ‘science’ euphoria ‘, the sentence dictates’

Romulo, Remo and KhaleesiThe copies of Lobo Huargo that the biotechnological company Colossal cinem He says he has developed, they are not the first of a extinguished species 10,000 years ago, but Gray wolves genetically modified with some gigantic wolf or huargo genes.

Scientists made this clarification after colossal yesterday announced that he had “welcomed” this species thanks to a complete genome of Lobo Huargo, rebuilt from old fossils of fossils of 11,500 and 72,000 years old.

Colossal said he had edited 20 gray lobos genes with this old DNA yield from a 13,000 -year -old tooth and a 72,000 -year -old skull -in the puppies to deduce some characteristics of the Huargos -wolves.

They then created embryos from the modified cells of the gray wolf and implanted them in bitches and gave birth to the puppies in October. They are currently in an ecological reserve certified by the American Human Society whose location is secret.

«If the genome of the Wolf HuargoWe don’t know how many genes it distinguishes Gray wolfBut attending the time of divergence of both species (about 4 or 5 million years) will be several thousand », and In the experiment they only used genes with an external aspecthe warns.

For Lluís Montoliu, researcher of the National Biotechnology Center from MadridThe conclusion is the same: Colossal has adjusted gray wolves using the CRISPR-CAS9 genetic processing technique and have obtained a wolf that looks like the gigantic wolf, but it is not. It doesn’t have all his genome, “he emphasizes.

A great deception?

Colossal Biosciences has produced is a gray wolf with similar characteristics such as that of a gigantic wolf But it is not a re -introduced gigantic wolf.

Even when they talk about ‘part’ and have made great technological progress, The beautiful puppies are not huge wolvesBut genetically modified gray wolves.