Creating mythical creatures

Today's genetic manipulations and understanding of embryonic development is quite astounding. You can actually write the genetic code on your computer, send it over the web and get to your home/lab a vial with the DNA you've written. On the other end, our understanding of biological genetic code is increasing. Scientists know the exact codes of several thousands of proteins, and most of their functions.

A more difficult field is embryonic development, in which the genetic code unfolds into creating the beings that are then born. It is a delicate balance between the genetic code, transcription factors that regulate the production of proteins, differentiation of cells and local and global chemical gradients. Nevertheless, a lot is known about the sequence of organ developments and how to influence them.

The last piece of the puzzle is genetic manipulations and creation of chimeras, in which a gene sequence from one species is inserted into another. You probably all know of the glowing mouse, where genes from a glowing bacteria has been inserted to the mouse genome and it glows in the dark.

Putting it all together, I think it is time to start bringing mythical creatures into life. While dragons are still out of the question, minor variations can be made. The first such animal that is the easiest to create, from my understanding, is the unicorn. The only unique thing about it is a single horn in the forehead. It has been shown that grafting an organ is possible, but I'm talking about a genetic/embryonic manipulation, such that a unicorn will be born. I believe it should be made similar to the rhinoceros horn, since it can be made pointy and doesn't require a bony structure. Hence, the genetic manipulation should be not major. Furthermore, the structure of the horn is not dissimilar from that of the horse's hooves, hence there is no need to insert new proteins into the pool, only regulating its expression. I admit, the way there is not easy in the design, implementation and regulation, but… a unicorn.

Other mythical creatures are probably harder, although I'll bet that Cerberus should not be that hard. It's simply having a siamese-triplet with a single body. Directly controlling this, so as to make it reproducible is probably not easy, but if Harry Potter has one, why shouldn't we? Pegasus is altogether another problem, since while I believe it would not be too difficult to have a horse with wings, to have a flying horse is, to the best of my knowledge, against the laws of physics. The same is true with a fire-breathing dragon, but that is for another post…

Why do this? Except for scientific curiosity, engineering challenge and pure geekiness, the market of such creatures could be huge. Which zoo would pass an opportunity to show its unicorn? Think of the extra marketing a circus can have with a Cerberus at its gate. The opportunities are endless. The only thing remaining is the curios scientist/engineer/geek with enough money to start this crazy project. Good luck!