La « dé-extinction » du mammouth laineux, un « Colossal » canular ?

• Published in: médecine/sciences
• Main Author: Jordan, Bertrand
• Other Authors: Anthropologie bio-culturelle, Droit, Ethique et Santé (ADES), Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-EFS ALPES MEDITERRANEE-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Endeavour; Tundra; Siberia
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03677770; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03677770/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03677770/file/msc220068.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1051/medsci/2022046

International audience Reports of a mammoth cloning project on-going under George Church’s supervision appear periodically in the press. Close examination of the available evidence indicates that there is indeed such a project (carried out in a company called “Colossal”), but the aim is actually to modify the Asian elephant’s genome so that the resulting animal displays some significant cold-adaptation traits, could theoretically be reintroduced into Siberia, and would then (also theoretically) modify the biotope towards its initial state of a steppe rather than a tundra. This endeavour seems largely unfeasible, but it may trigger important methodological advances that probably explain its ability to attract significant capital investment.