Uni Melbourne and Colossal plan to bring back Tasmanian tiger

A University of Melbourne research lab is partnering with genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences to accelerate efforts to bring the thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, back from extinction. This is the second animal de-extinction project from US-based Colossal, which is also pursuing de-extinction of the woolly mammoth.

Melbourne’s Professor Andrew Pask said his Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research (TIGRR) Lab will concentrate efforts on establishing reproductive technologies tailored to Australian marsupials, such as IVF and gestation without a surrogate, as Colossal simultaneously deploys its CRISPR gene editing and computational biology capabilities to reproduce thylacine DNA. Colossal’s resources and expertise in CRISPR gene editing will be paired with TIGGR’s work sequencing thylacine genome and identifying marsupials with similar DNA to provide living cells and template genome that can then be edited to recreate a thylacine genome.

Bringing back the thylacine would not only return the iconic species to the world, but has the potential to rebalance the Tasmanian and broader Australian ecosystems, which have suffered biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation since the loss of the predator in 1936. The thylacine played a critical role in regulating the ecosystem by hunting non-native mesopredators, which prey on native herbivores — so rewilding the thylacine to select areas could help return them to their natural state.

The partnership will also produce technology and knowledge to influence the next generation of Australia’s marsupial conservation efforts and combat extinction events caused by invasive species and climate change. Pask noted, “Our efforts to protect the endangered northern quoll — long threatened by the invasive cane toad native to South and Central America — will also be aided by this partnership, as we could produce northern quolls with a slight genome-edit making them resistant … to cane toad poison.”

Colossal’s woolly mammoth restoration team currently has over 35 dedicated scientists spanning various functional areas including cell engineering, stem cell biology, embryology, computational biology and genome engineering as well as three laboratories focused on the mission for mammoth de-extinction. The company is now assembling an expert thylacine team and is near completion of its dedicated thylacine laboratory.

“The question everyone asks is ‘how long until we see a living thylacine?’, and I’ve previously believed in 10 years’ time we would have an edited cell that we could then consider progressing into making into an animal,” Pask said.

“With this partnership, I now believe that in 10 years’ time we could have our first living baby thylacine since they were hunted to extinction close to a century ago.”

The successful birth of the thylacine requires advancement of current marsupial assisted reproductive technology, leading to the development of gestation and maturation devices to help conserve any marsupial. Pask said TIGRR is close to producing the first lab-created embryos from Australian marsupial sperm and eggs, stating, “We are pursuing growing marsupials from conception to birth in a test tube without a surrogate, which is conceivable given infant marsupials’ short gestation period and their small size.”

“Andrew and his lab have made tremendous advances in marsupial research, gestation, thylacine imaging and tissue sampling,” said Colossal co-founder Dr George Church. “Colossal is excited to provide the necessary genetic editing technology and computational biology to bring this project, and the thylacine, to life.”

Image caption: Professor Andrew Pask’s Thylacine Integrated Genomic Restoration (TIGRR) Lab is partnering with Colossal Biosciences on the de-extinction of the thylacine.

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