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“Wolves and dire wolves, despite the wolf part of their names, are not closely related, having parted ways from a common ancestor some 6 million years ago, and the African jackal might be more ...

Colossal edited 15 extinct dire wolf variants into the donor gray wolf genome, creating dire wolves that express genes that have not been expressed for more than 10,000 years.

For context, the gray wolf—the closest living relative of the dire wolf—has a genome of about 2.45 billion base pairs (the fundamental building blocks of DNA).

Based on the sequence of two new dire wolf genomes, the researchers at Colossal conclude that dire wolves formed a distinct branch within the canids over 2.5 million years ago.

While the gray wolf and the dire wolf are separated by a few million years of evolution, they share over 99.5% of their genomes. Advertisement Article continues below this ad ...

Scientists say the wolves carry dire wolf genes but are essentially hybrid animals with 99.9% gray wolf genome. Experts note the technology could help endangered species, though questions remain ...

To achieve its goal, the company essentially created a hybrid genome using CRISPR technology to cut away certain gray wolf gene variants and replace them with traits associated with dire wolves ...

Dire wolves have also appeared in video games including Final Fantasy and World of Warcraft, tabletop game classic Dungeons & Dragons, and card game Magic the Gathering.. But the dire wolf is an ...

Or scientists could edit ancestral red wolf gene variants into today’s red wolves. That could help “make them more adaptable to climate change and disease and all the challenges that wild ...

Colossal Biosciences says it used novel gene-editing technology to alter gray wolf DNA to breed the animals. Dire wolves recently featured prominently in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Dire wolves are larger and have a wider head and stronger jaw compared with the modern gray wolf, the release states. Colossal also determined dire wolves likely had a white coat, the release states.