Everyone’s Saying the Same Thing After Scientists 'Resurrect' the Dire Wolf

[Bullshot]

I don’t know why this occurred to me and I feel pretty icky saying it… but the real money is going to be in “designer reproductive services.” Parents of the future will get to select which genes from past successful or beautiful people they want added and expressed. So the movie stars or swimsuit models or genuises of today take note…. the real money is NOT in your current profession, it is in selling your genome sequence to some weird startup firm planning to do this.

Uh oh….Oh…. wait…. 23&Me….bankruptcy…. China…. awwwww crap! Shoulda thought that through a little more….

 

[kwyeewyk]

It's been a little while since I studied alleles/genes in college, but wouldn't these dire wolves, if allowed to breed, put out mostly grey wolves with some occasional dire wolf "looking" wolves mixed in? Aren't these effectively F1 hybrids or are they more stable than that?

They wouldn't be f1 hybrids, that would be if you actually had a dire wolf breed a gray or vice versa. This is literally gray wolves that have portions of their genes replaced with dire sequences that code for traits that look like dires. They might be sterile, or the edited genes would dilute and express based on dominance vs recessiveness.

 

[texwest44]

They wouldn't be f1 hybrids, that would be if you actually had a dire wolf breed a gray or vice versa. This is literally gray wolves that have portions of their genes replaced with dire sequences that code for traits that look like dires. They might be sterile, or the edited genes would dilute and express based on dominance vs recessiveness.

Yes, that's why I threw the qualifier "effectively" on there, because I can't imagine there would be any stability in their genetic expression almost at all, just like if they had crossed them once and called it good. The articles I've seen haven't mentioned sterility or breeding in any manner, leaving me to wonder what the future holds in store for these critters. If they went on to breed with grey wolves, they'd be lucky to get one in four dire-looking wolf in every litter, with those numbers probably going down over time without the company's intervention.

Seems to me like the dire wolf is still extinct, and these people are looking to take advantage of scientifically illiterate people in order to make some fast $$$.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Seems to me like the dire wolf is still extinct, and these people are looking to take advantage of scientifically illiterate people in order to make some fast $$$.

100% still extinct, this would be no different than saying that mammoth is no longer extinct because they made wooly mice.

 

[Falcon75]

Just watched original jurassic park last night with my son. Wow we never learn from history. Of all the things to bring back why wolves? I agree all you can eat shrimp would be better.

 

[BrentD]

What are the odds that these genes stay in the three animals they created and not be bred into dogs or wild wolves? Personally, I think those odds are small and the results could be really, really bad. Just because we can, is no excuse to actually do it. I do not trust anyone to keep those genes under wraps.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Wooly mammoth season is gonna be sweet.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Just watched original jurassic park last night with my son. Wow we never learn from history. Of all the things to bring back why wolves? I agree all you can eat shrimp would be better.

Had no idea jurassic park was based on a true story

 

[BrentD]

Wooly mammoth season is gonna be sweet.

Thrusting spears only. And you have to pack the meat out on the bone.

 

[wannabee]

Resources would be better spent on working with current wildlife populations in need, as opposed to playing god and resurrecting extinct species.

Or mule deer with CWD resistance.

This company is actually pretty smart, make a splash with the mammoth as their flagship to gain donors, then dire wolves (everyone loves dogs) while learning the techniques that actually could go on to help current wildlife that are in trouble. I think so far they have the genomes of about 4000 species and about 100 genomes per.

Yes, these are not legit dire wolves, they turned on like 14 genes or something of dire wolves on top of the gray wolf genome.

However, this could go on to greatly help wildlife that are facing genetic bottlenecks (red wolves, bull trout) by having the ability to reintroduce genetic diversity back into their genomes and alleviate the issues that come with it.

No doubt this is big and flashy and I can see why people would be annoyed. However, if they actually do some good for our wildlife I think it's a win. Gene editing is controversial, but we have already meddle with so much with animals this isn't exactly our of left field.

 

[kwyeewyk]

 

[winmag]

 

[WVmike]

A bigger wolf that will have even more affect on wildlife populations. The next time I go elk hunting in colorado, I'll be site seeing and counting the number of elk, deer carcasses along the way.

 

[WVmike]

Or mule deer with CWD resistance.

This would be good for any ungulates. Probably not as flashy or not enough monetary gains as resurrecting a species. The world we live in is crazy.

 

[BrentD]

This would be good for any ungulates. Probably not as flashy or not enough monetary gains as resurrecting a species. The world we live in is crazy.

Can you imagine how crazy the world would be if we only allowed science to work on whatever is the current most important problem?

And who would decide what that problem would be?

 

[WVmike]

Can you imagine how crazy the world would be if we only allowed science to work on whatever is the current most important problem?

And who would decide what that problem would be?

That would be called a conundrum.

 

[Steiny77]

Have seen this Dire Wolf news in quite a few different places lately.
Call me a skeptic, but I don't believe it.

 

[BrentD]

That would be called a conundrum.

I would call it a Cluster Cluck, or something like that.

 

[Gut Shot]

And who would decide what that problem would be?

That's easy, it would be people with the deepest pockets. Just like it is now.

 

[RG300]

Gene editing is controversial, but we have already meddle with so much with animals this isn't exactly our of left field.

it should be left out in the field though...... let sleeping dogs lie, there is a reason the dire wolf went extinct.