Geneticists announced Tuesday that they have bred pigs with an immunity to a common animal viral disease by utilizing gene editing technology, a discovery that could save the farming industry millions, according to Yahoo! News.
Researchers from Genus, a company that provides pig and bull semen to farmers, teamed up with the University of Missouri and Kansas State University to create the new super pigs.
The disease, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus, costs an estimated $660 million every year for the farming industry. The disease makes it difficult for pigs to produce offspring, makes them lose weight and often kills them prematurely, according to Phys.
Using new gene editing technology, the group was able to breed pigs that do not create a specific protein that causes the disease to spread.
"Once inside the pigs, PRRS needs some help to spread; it gets that help from a protein called CD163," said Randall Prather, professor of animal sciences at University of Missouri. "We were able to breed a litter of pigs that do not produce this protein, and as a result, the virus doesn't spread."
"When we exposed the pigs to PRRS, they did not get sick and continued to gain weight normally," he added.
The study was published by the Nature Publishing Group.
