Studying the genome of the terrifying wolf also allows the huge team to find out which trait distinguishes ancient wolf from modern relatives. They settled on features involving size, muscle, hair color, hair texture, hair length and coat pattern. They then used gene editing to alter the cellular genome of the terrifying wolf’s closest biological relative, Gray Wolf. In total, the company has performed 20 unique edits to 14 genes in the Gray Wolf genome. Among them, 15 were designed to reproduce extinct wolf gene variants. Huge claims that this is a record number of unique genetic edits made to any animal.
But the genome of the terrifying wolf is still almost the same as that of the gray wolf. This raises a difficult question: Are these wolves really scary wolves, or are they gene-edited gray wolves? Lamb, of course, said these animals were terrible wolves. “We call them horrible wolf,” he said. “It’s interesting that species are a field that scientists seem to agree with.” A species is often defined by a combination of genetic and physically visible features, including the shape, size and color of the body.
George Church, a Harvard genetics professor who co-founded the company with Lamm, said the goal is to eventually produce the complete genome of extinct horrible wolf. “At the same time, we prioritize all the characteristics that actually define the species,” he said.
Shapiro also said the editors were enough to call the new animal a horror wolf. “If we could look at the animal and see what it was doing, and look like a terrible wolf, like a terrible wolf, I would call it a terrible wolf. My colleagues in the classification law would disagree with me.”
David Jachowski, a conservation professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, said that in defining species, it is “essentially a subjective,” and that animals’ role in their ecosystems may be as important as their genetics. Jachowski said that announcing a species’ “huge marketing value” and announcing the extinction of a species, he had no idea of the specific details about the terrifying wolf project.
In order to create a terrifying wolf, the huge thing starts with the blood drawn by a gray wolf. Working on a blood cell called epithelial progenitor cells, the team edited the DNA to match it more closely with the genome of the terrifying wolf. They then took the genetic material from the cell and placed it in the egg cells of the domesticated dog whose genetic material had been removed. Once the egg cell develops into an embryo, it is implanted into the replacement dog.
Each surrogacy requires eight surrogates and an average of 45 embryos to obtain the terrifying wolf puppy. Two surrogate men gave birth to Romruz and Remus, and one-third gave birth to Caresi. Five embryos were transferred without successful pregnancy. The second woman was born with Khaleesi in January but died after a 10-day gut infection.
