Could the dodo return? US firm maps 95% of its genome and identifies gene-editing targets

Among all the animals and birds that have gone extinct, the dodo remains unforgettable, not due to some special characteristic, but because, before its human-driven extinction, many thought that nature was inexhaustible and none of god's creations would ever disappear. It proved that human activity had the capacity to wipe out an entire species. More than 300 years after the bird disappeared from the face of Earth, an American biotech company claims it is making progress in its goal of resurrecting the famous flightless bird, as per a Reuters report.Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences said on Wednesday that it has used a newly developed AI platform to identify genetic changes that may be responsible for the dodo's distinctive craniofacial traits as its scientists pursue gene-editing targets to bring back the lost species. Colossal is planning to perform gene-editing to bring the dodo traits into the cells of one of its closest living relatives, the Nicobar pigeon. Native to some Southeast Asian islands, the Nicobar pigeon is known for its shimmering green and copper feathers but unlike the dodo, it can fly.Ancient DNA is always broken into small pieces, so no ancient genome is perfec...