“A plan to genetically engineer a version of the dodo, a giant flightless bird that disappeared 400 years ago and became the poster child for extinction, has made some headway, according to Texas-based biotechnology firm Colossal Biosciences.

The company’s scientists said they have succeeded in culturing specialized cells from the rock dove — better known as the humble pigeon. They plan to use the same or similar techniques to culture cells from the dodo’s closest living relative, the Nicobar pigeon, which is from the same family of birds…

 The company said it focused on the rock pigeon because the bird is widely bred and distantly related to the dodo. Scientists have previously been able to culture primordial germ cells, or PGCs, of chickens and geese, a technique that has been used to create a chicken fathered by a duck.

‘The first cell culture recipe was for chicken PGCs, and was published nearly 20 years ago,’ Anna Keyte, Colossal’s avian species director, said in a news release.

‘Unfortunately, that recipe has not worked on any other bird species tested, even closely related species like quail. Colossal’s discovery of a recipe for pigeons dramatically expands avian reproductive technologies and is the foundation for our dodo work.’

The team tested more than 300 recipes before happening on the right combination of growth factors, molecules and metabolites that allowed the pigeon germ cells to grow for 60 days. Details of the research, which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, were published Wednesday.”

From CNN.