Helping to save an endangered species
For decades, the Bavarian pine vole Microtus bavaricus was little more than a footnote in German wildlife history. The furry rodent was last sighted in Germany in 1962 and thought to be extinct. In the early 2000s, however, a few animals turned up in North Tyrol – delighting ecologists. But their survival remains fragile.
Now, with help from Dr. Sebastian Diecke, Group Leader of the Pluripotent Stem Cell Technology Platform at the Max Delbrück Center, wildlife conservation groups are aiming to help boost the odds that Microtus bavaricus will not only survive, but one day thrive. With a 200,000 euro grant from the U.S.-based conservation organization Revive & Restore, his lab will be sequencing the pine vole’s genome and exploring reproductive technologies that might help captive breeding programs.
“It’s a very special animal,” says Dr. Julia Falk, a postdoctoral researcher in Diecke’s lab. “At the time it was discovered, it was the only remaining endemic mammal species in Germany – and it was considered one of the rarest mammals on Earth.”
A boost from biotechnology
Today, a few animals are being cared for in Berlin’s Tierpark and Zoo, and at Alpenzoo Innsbruck, as part of a wildlife conservation effort. But breeding the voles has turned out to be difficult, Falk adds, which is why additional measures are necessary.
Bavarian pine vole
The first phase of the research project will focus on sequencing the animals’ genome to better understand where the species fits in the European vole family tree, Falk explains. The information could better help guide breeding programs. In parallel, Falk will be experimenting with generating induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, from skin cells provided by the zoos.
“These cells have never been cultured,” she says. “Reprogramming cells from wild species is much more challenging than working with humans or lab mice. There’s a lot of trial and error.”
If successful and with the help of stem cell biologist Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi at the University of Osaka, the iPSCs could eventually be coaxed into becoming germ-cell-like cells – precursors of eggs or sperm. In mice, this approach has already been shown to work. Applied to the vole, it could open the door to assisted reproduction, and, in the long term, cloning the animals.
In the meantime, there are signs that the habitat of Microtus bavaricus in Germany has become hospitable again. In 2022, wildlife cameras suggested that a population of the animals had returned to Bavaria. The following year, genetic sequencing confirmed that a vole caught in a trap in the German Alps indeed belonged to the species. Falk now hopes that advanced technology can help to bring these elusive, underground-dwelling animals back from the brink of extinction.
Text: Gunjan Sinha
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