Gene-Edited Pigs Could End Swine Fever Outbreaks

Scottish scientists have engineered swine that are resistant to classical swine fever, a highly contagious disease that has killed countless pigs. In trials, the gene-edited animals stayed healthy after being exposed to the virus, which has caused major losses in pig farming globally despite being officially eradicated in many regions, the Guardian reports. The UK declared the disease eradicated in 1966, but outbreaks since then have led to the culling of tens of thousands of animals while countries like China and Brazil still battle the disease with expensive vaccination campaigns.

The breakthrough made by scientists at the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute centers on a genetic tweak to a protein that is crucial for the virus's ability to replicate. Pigs with the edited gene showed no symptoms or signs of infection, unlike their unmodified counterparts. "Classical swine fever is a devastating disease for livestock and farmers," said Helen Crooke at the UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency. She said the use of gene-edited pigs "would help towards sustainable livestock production, and with nice healthy, happy pigs," the New Scientist reports. Analysts say the technology would be most useful in regions including Asia and Latin America, where the disease still causes heavy losses, reports the Financial Times.

Researchers also found no negative impact on the pigs' health or fertility across generations. The team is now exploring whether the same genetic edit could protect cattle and sheep from similar viruses. The development comes as several countries, including the US, the UK, Japan, and Brazil, move to relax regulations around gene-edited livestock. The Times notes that the Roslin Institute has a lot of experience in genetic engineering: A team from the institute developed Dolly the sheep, the first cloned adult mammal, in 1996.