{"id":31876,"date":"2025-04-09T07:37:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T02:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=31876"},"modified":"2025-04-16T16:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T11:00:20","slug":"de-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/de-extinction\/","title":{"rendered":"De-Extinction"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>De-Extinction Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>A US-based bioscience company, Colossal Biosciences, has recently made headlines by announcing the birth of three genetically modified grey wolf pups.<\/p>\n<h2>What is De-Extinction?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>De-extinction<\/strong> refers to the <strong>scientific process of reviving extinct species<\/strong> by using their <strong>genetic material<\/strong>, often through <strong>gene editing and cloning techniques<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It involves <strong>reconstructing the genome<\/strong> of an extinct species and <strong>modifying the DNA<\/strong> of a closely related living organism to resemble the extinct one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About The Dire Wolf<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus)<\/strong> was a <strong>large prehistoric canine<\/strong> that once roamed across <strong>southern Canada and the United States<\/strong>. It became extinct around <strong>13,000 years ago<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Although they <strong>resembled modern grey wolves (Canis lupus)<\/strong>, dire wolves were <strong>larger<\/strong>, with <strong>thicker white coats<\/strong>, and hunted <strong>large prey<\/strong> like <strong>bison<\/strong>, <strong>horses<\/strong>, and even <strong>mammoths<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Their extinction is believed to be linked to the <strong>disappearance of their prey species<\/strong>, possibly accelerated by <strong>human hunting activities<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Scientific Process: How Was It Done?<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>de-extinction process<\/strong> followed by Colossal involved the following steps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>DNA extraction<\/strong>: Scientists obtained DNA from two ancient dire wolf specimens: a 13,000-year-old<strong> tooth<\/strong> and a <strong>72,000-year-old skull<\/strong>. The <strong>petrous bone<\/strong> from the skull, known for its <strong>preserved DNA<\/strong>, was crucial in this process.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Genome reconstruction<\/strong>: The DNA was sequenced to recreate the <strong>complete genome<\/strong> of the dire wolf. This was then compared with genomes from <strong>closely related canids<\/strong> like <strong>coyotes<\/strong>, <strong>jackals<\/strong>, <strong>dholes<\/strong>, and particularly, <strong>grey wolves<\/strong>, which were found to share <strong>99.5% of their DNA<\/strong> with dire wolves.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gene editing<\/strong>: Using <strong>gene editing tools<\/strong>, scientists made <strong>20 unique changes to 14 genes<\/strong> in the grey wolf genome. These edits aimed to reproduce features such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Light-colored coat<\/li>\n<li>Increased hair length<\/li>\n<li>Distinct coat patterns<\/li>\n<li>Larger body size<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced musculature<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Surrogacy and Birth<\/strong>: The <strong>genetically modified embryos<\/strong> were implanted into <strong>surrogate dog mothers<\/strong>, leading to the birth of the pups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>De-Extinction FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1<\/strong>. What is de-extinction?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> The process of reviving extinct species using biotechnology like CRISPR gene editing, cloning, or back-breeding (e.g., attempts to resurrect the Woolly Mammoth).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2. <\/strong>How could de-extinction aid India\u2019s ecology?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Potential restoration of keystone species like the Asiatic Cheetah (reintroduced in 2022) to rebalance ecosystems and boost biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>What ethical concerns surround de-extinction?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Risks include ecosystem disruption, animal welfare issues, and resource diversion from conserving extant endangered species.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4. <\/strong>Name a global de-extinction initiative involving India.<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> The <i>Lazarus Project<\/i> collaborates with Indian researchers on reviving the extinct Himalayan Quail using DNA from museum specimens.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5. <\/strong>How does de-extinction align with international frameworks?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> The CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) urges caution, prioritizing habitat protection over \u201cresurrection biology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/science-technology\/dire-wolves-reborn-scientists-spark-debate-with-gene-edited-wolves-resembling-extinct-ancestors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">DTE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>De-extinction refers to the scientific process of reviving extinct species by using their genetic material, often through gene editing and cloning techniques.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}