Bird flu: Chickens to undergo gene editing to boost resistance to pandemic | Scientists | Technology

Scientists believe that Avian Influenza Can jump back to being human and become new Pandemicso there is a lot of research effort to combat it; something may be closer to implementation due to gene editing making chickens resistant to the disease.

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A study published today in the journal Nature Communications concludes that editing of proteins is critical for development Avian Influenza In chicken (called ANP32A), deleting the two genes associated with it (ANP32B and ANP32E) in the cells prevents Virus Copied from one animal to another.

“this Avian Influenza very common Asia, Europe, Africa and USAespecially South Americaand worry that it will reach AntarcticaMike McGrew, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, explained at a press conference introducing the study.

this Virus Threat to species birds wildlife, resulting in huge economic costs to ranchers and risks to humans healthy In fact, it had killed people, McGrew recalled.

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Gene editing won’t affect chicken health

A few years ago, Wendy Barclay, a scientist at Imperial College London and an author on the study, took the first step toward creating the virus by isolating its host protein. disease-resistant chicken same.

Now, researchers have successfully edited this protein in germ cells. chicken to minimize influenza A activity.

“We found that adult chickens with edited ANP32A proteins were resistant to physiological doses exposed to other influenza A viruses. infected birdsand shown to recover better from disease” McGrew pointed out.

also, chickenfollowed for more than two years after receiving one dose of the drug Virusthey suffer no health problems related to this, nor does it affect their egg production.

“We believe that additional editing of the protein in chicken cells and deletion of two other related genes (ANP32B and ANP32E) will prevent the protein from replicating. Virus” Barclays said at the same press conference.

Scientists believe research must continue to ensure the health of animals is not affected by this gene editing And continue to verify whether this version can effectively eliminate the possibility of virus evolution.

According to information from EFE