The world is changing– as it tends to do– but these days it’s happening at a faster rate than natural evolution can keep up with. Luckily for the species that are being left behind, humanity is here to give them a boost along the race to survive. This is called conservation genomics– manual evolution.
“Where one organism was adapted to a certain location at one moment in time, it may no longer be,” said David Neale, a forest geneticist and professor at the University of California, according to the LA Times.
Evolution is a long process, but climate change is happening very quickly; many species simply cannot keep up with the changes they are made to cope with, which is leading to their extinction. Scientists have been working to solve this dilemma, and have come to understand that genetics can be artificially altered to aid the survival of endangered species by allowing them to adapt. This is one of such changes that make up the study of conservation genomics.
“Genetic bottlenecks can pose a serious threat to a species survival,” said Kira Newbon, according to frontlinegenomics. When an endangered species is down to a very small remaining population, their genetic diversity is severely at risk; this leads to lower birth rates and slows evolution even further.
Geneticists are working to reintroduce genetic diversity into endangered species because the differences in genetics are what influence how well an animal can survive to pass on its genes. A smaller pool of animals to select as mates leads to a vicious cycle of harm; for example, cheetahs went through a very extreme bottleneck thousands of years ago, and though they recovered, they often have abnormalities or disabilities which impact their ability to produce offspring. Inbreeding can also cause susceptibility to diseases.
“Once thought to be extinct, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is North America’s most endangered mammal,” according to the World Wildlife Fund. Although they have recovered somewhat in population size, they are all incredibly susceptible to sylvatic plague and thus struggle to be reintroduced into the wild.
Thankfully, the CRISPR system– which allows geneticists to alter genes in embryos by targeting DNA sequences– has successfully combined plague resistant alleles from the domestic ferret with the black footed ferret as of 2023, and soon it is hoped that they will be able to return to the wild.
Science is a wonderful thing that proves humans aren’t just hurting the planet and everything on it. If you would like to support the research working towards reviving species from the brink of extinction, you can donate to Genome10k.