Gene editing will help prevent chickens from contracting and spreading avian influenza, according to a proof-of-concept study.
Researchers use gene editing technologygene editing tools, change DNA from 10 chickens and render them resistant to avian influenza viruses. Then they exposed everyone to low doses. Only one of the 10 chickens was infected with the virus and did not pass it on to any other chickens.
“This shows that we can use proof of concept to breed chickens that are resistant to this virus,” Wendy Barclay, a virologist and professor at Imperial College London, said in a news release. “But we’re not there yet. .” Kingdom), and co-director of the study.The study was published on October 10 nature communications.
Bird flu has killed millions wild and farmed birds, which has become popular all over the world in recent years. It is also increasingly affecting mammals, leading virologists to worry that the virus may adapt to infect humans.
In the chicken study, the team modified protein genes in the birds’ sperm and eggs.This protein is called ANP32A, helps the flu virus attack the chicken’s system. By rearranging the DNA letters of the ANP32A protein, the researchers successfully prevented the influenza virus from infecting chickens.
“We knew that the genetic changes we made stopped the virus from growing in chicken cells,” explains Alewo Idoko-Ako, a researcher at the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and a participant in the study.
To test the resistance of the genetically modified birds, the researchers exposed them to a second, higher dose of the avian flu virus. Of these 10 people, 5 were infected.Nonetheless, gene editing offers a degree of Protect. The researchers also found that the intervention limited the spread of the virus, with only one of four non-GMO chickens placed in the same incubator becoming infected. In addition, the genetically modified chickens did not spread the virus.
However, the team found that in the transgenic birds, the virus adapted to gain support from two related proteins, ANP32B and ANP32E, to replicate.
Alison Van Eenennaam, an animal geneticist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the study, said this suggests that editing the only gene targeted by the researchers This is not a powerful enough method. Likes to make a difference.
The study’s researchers agree with Van Eenennaam that their next step is to breed chickens with all three genes edited. It will take decades to put the necessary technical and regulatory measures in place, but researchers say CRISPR gene editing will eventually save countless chicken lives and transform the livestock industry. “Chicken is the best,” Van Eenennaam said. “It’s great to use this technology to breed animals less susceptible to disease“.