Chinese researchers say they have successfully edited pig genes to counter classical swine fever.
Their genetically-modified pigs will not allow the disease to multiply.
As a result, the treated pigs showed fewer symptoms of classical swine fever and fewer deaths.
They believe the alteration can be transmitted to offspring.
Their research report is published in the in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens.
The authors say their approach will work better than commercial vaccines and reduce losses caused by the disease.
Gene-editing work by others has resulted in piglets being born that cannot be infected by TGE or PRRS. Those were two separate research projects, but each involved a gene that produces an enzyme that’s necessary for the virus to enter a cell.
Other gene-editing projects aim to eliminate the ability of cattle to grow horns and pigs to reach sexual maturity and produce a substance that gives off an offensive odour when pork from boars is cooked.
