Bioengineers Create Stem Cells from Elephant Skin

A team of bioengineers at Colossal Biosciences, a de-extinction company, has achieved a major breakthrough in creating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from elephant skin cells. This could pave the way for engineering elephants with woolly mammoth traits, such as shaggy hair and extra fat.

What are iPSCs and why are they important?

Induced pluripotent stem cells are cells that can be reprogrammed to act like embryonic cells, which can differentiate into any cell type in the body. They are useful for studying development, disease and regeneration, as well as for creating tissues and organs for transplantation.

iPSCs have been made from various animals, including endangered species such as white rhinos and snow leopards. However, elephants have been notoriously difficult to reprogram, due to their unique biology and gene regulation.

How did the bioengineers overcome this challenge?

The bioengineers at Colossal Biosciences used a combination of chemical treatment and genetic manipulation to reprogram elephant skin cells into iPSCs. They treated the skin cells with chemicals that are used to reprogram human and mouse cells, and they added four key reprogramming factors identified by Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka. They also modified genes that control the production of a protein called TP53, which is involved in cell cycle regulation and DNA repair.

The result was four lines of elephant iPSCs that looked and behaved like other iPSCs created from other animals. The bioengineers are still in the process of writing a paper describing their work, which they plan to post on the bioRxiv preprint server.

What is the ultimate goal of this project?

The ultimate goal of Colossal Biosciences is not to bring back the extinct woolly mammoth, but to create a hybrid elephant with many of the traits of a woolly mammoth. Such animals could be released into the wild in places like Siberia, where they could perform the same ecological role that was once played by woolly mammoths.

To do this, the bioengineers will need to use gene editing tools such as CRISPR-Cas9 to introduce mammoth genes into the elephant iPSCs, and then use these cells to create embryos that can be implanted into surrogate elephant mothers.

However, this is still a long way off, as there are many technical and ethical challenges involved in this process. For instance, how will the gene-edited elephants affect the environment and biodiversity? How will they interact with other elephants and humans? How will they cope with climate change and poaching?

These are some of the questions that need to be addressed before Colossal Biosciences can realize its vision of reviving an ancient species.

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