Colossal Unveils GenoMorph AI Platform for Dodo Genome Editing

Colossal Biosciences unveiled GenoMorph, an AI platform that identifies possible gene editing targets from limited genomic data, in a press release. Applied to the dodo program, it identified about 2,300 candidate regulatory elements associated with bird beak size and shape.

Colossal built the platform using samples from chickens, quail, ducks and pigeons across six stages of embryonic development. It combined these data with genomes and skull measurements from more than 70 bird species, including the Nicobar pigeon, the dodo's closest living relative. The identified elements are candidates for testing and do not yet establish which DNA changes caused the dodo's anatomy.

The company is beginning functional validation of the candidates and may edit confirmed elements in Nicobar pigeon cells. It also expanded its Nicobar pigeon colony to 36 birds, derived primordial germ cells from the species and hatched chimeric chickens from cultured embryonic stem cells. A lipid nanoparticle system is being used to deliver gene editing tools into bird embryos and test candidate regulatory elements.