Monday, April 12, 2021

Creating a Real Unicorn



Everyone knows that a unicorn is a mythical creature, but in her article, Carolyn Wilke mentions various ways to possibly create an animal with features identical to a unicorn. Albino horses and have white fur and light eyes, similar to that of a unicorn. An albino animal is the result of a mutation of one gene, and they do not make the pigment melanin which gives color to skin or fur. Creating a horn or rainbow color would be more difficult to produce on a horse, as they involve more genes and are more complex traits. Researcher Paul Knoepfler of the University of California mentions the use of CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that allows scientists to change an organism's DNA. He also mentions that it would be possible to make an animal that contains DNA from several different animals. Although it would be interesting to try these approaches to create a real unicorn, it may not be ethical. The animals created may have harmful reactions and important body processes could be affected. Also, this would not be natural and if a unicorn were to be created it may not be able to survive in the environment we live in. 


Articles: 

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/what-would-it-take-to-make-a-unicorn

https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2014/crispr-a-game-changing-genetic-engineering-technique/



2 comments:

  1. For some reason i did't think horses could be albino since there are white horses but this made me look it up and yeah they look completely different. But i agree I don't think we should do those edit genes because it could create pain towards those poor horses.

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  2. I never was aware that horses could be albino, especially since every time i've seen a horse they are either brown or black. It's amazing that we have progressed enough to where we would have the option to edit a horses genes in order to make them look like a mythical creature. I do share equal concerns regarding the issues that would arise if we did modify these already beautiful creatures

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