The geneticist spoke about the possibility of breeding a GMO Cheburashka

In about five years, using gene editing, it is possible to produce a genetically modified koala, which in a number of iterations will look like the cartoon character Cheburashka. According to Pavel Volchkov, executive director of the Center for Living Systems and head of the Laboratory of Genomic Engineering at MIPT, genetics, this is not the easiest, but feasible task. He told about it in the new issue of the podcast "Lime".

"A koala looks as much like a Cheburashka as possible. Unfortunately, the embryonic technologies have not been delivered for the project, it will take some time, but in general, I do not see any major scientific or technological problems," the scientist claims.

He notes that the breeding of koalas, similar to cartoon characters, has not practical, but technological significance — it is a demonstration of the possibilities of science.

"The fact that you can create genetically engineered animals is a very cool competence, primarily for agriculture, but the scaling problem has not yet been solved there. We know how to clone, but so far this technology is very crude," Volchkov said.

According to him, mass cloning of cows or sheep, for example, is still very expensive, therefore it is impractical from an economic point of view. But if we talk about special cases when owners want to get a copy of their beloved pet after its death, then the technology can be called affordable: on average, it costs about 30 thousand dollars. The geneticist claims that the service is in high demand.

"Cloning dogs and cats is quite a big business in the world. People are so attached to their pets that they want to clone them after death. To do this, they leave biological material to revive their pet, like Dolly the sheep. There's an improved cloning technology," explained the podcast guest.

All codes are written down: an improved genomic editor will help in the treatment of rare diseases

Modified molecular technology can change the treatment of cystic fibrosis and other hereditary pathologies.

Earlier, on November 18, The New York Post (NYP) reported that in 10 years, dog breeds such as pugs, French and English bulldogs may disappear due to health problems caused by a genetic predisposition. Breeders try to correct the shortcomings of such dogs by changing breeding technologies. For example, scientists have developed the Innate Health Assessment (IHA) system, which will evaluate dogs according to 10 criteria that take into account the weaknesses of the breeds.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.