A biotech start-up has announced that the dire wolf, an extinct animal made famous in the TV series Game of Thrones,  has been brought back from extinction after more than 10,000 years.

Texas company Colossal Biosciences said its researchers had used cloning and gene editing based on two ancient samples of dire wolf DNA to birth three modern dire wolf pups.

It included two six-month-old males named Romulus and Remus and a three-month-old female named Khaleesi.

Colossal’s chief executive, Ben Lamm, called the development a “massive milestone”.

“I could not be more proud of the team. This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works. Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies.

“It was once said any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation,’’ he said in a statement.

Researchers at Colossal explained the de-extinction process involved taking blood cells from a living grey wolf, the dire wolf’s closest living relative, and genetically modifying them in 20 different sites.

The genetic material was transferred to an egg cell from a domestic dog, and then the embryos were transferred to a surrogate for gestation and, finally, successful birth.

Colossal’s chief science officer, Beth Shapiro, said, “Our novel approach to iteratively improving our ancient genome in the absence of a perfect reference sets a new standard for paleogenome reconstruction.

“Together with improved approaches to recover ancient DNA, these computational advances allowed us to resolve the evolutionary history of dire wolves and establish the genomic foundation for de-extinction.

“It’s specifically for selecting with confidence dire wolf-specific genetic variants that establish our targets for gene editing.”

Distinctive traits of the dire wolf include light, thick fur and muscular jaws, while they are also much larger than grey wolves.

Colossal said the animals would live in a continuously monitored, secure ecological preserve certified by the American Humane Society and registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The dire wolf is a mainstay of fantasy settings in pop culture, with mentions in role-playing games like ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ and video games like ‘World of Warcraft’.

However, the vehicle that truly shot dire wolves to fame was the HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the works of author George RR Martin.

Mr Martin, an investor in Colossal and cultural adviser for the company, said, “Many people view dire wolves as mythical creatures that only exist in a fantasy world.

“But in reality, they have a rich history of contributing to the American ecosystem. I get the luxury to write about magic, but Ben and Colossal have created magic by bringing these majestic beasts back to our world.”

Colossal also announced it had cloned four red wolves using blood drawn from wild wolves of the south-eastern U.S.’s critically endangered red wolf population.

The aim was to bring more genetic diversity into the small population of captive red wolves, which scientists are using to breed and help save the species. 

(dpa/NAN)