Meat from ‘super pigs’ could hit British supermarket shelves within five years after scientists sign an agreement to breed the disease-resistant animals.
University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute and genetics company Genus will produce pigs that are resistant to a respiratory disease affecting livestock worldwide.
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) harms the animals’ welfare and is one of the most costly animal diseases in the world, with around $2.5 billion (£1.8 billion) revenue lost each year in the US and Europe alone.
The disease causes breathing problems and deaths in young animals and can result in pregnant sows losing their litters, with vaccines mostly failing to stop the spread.
The University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute has produced pigs that can resist the disease by editing their genetic code, and hope the new licensing agreement will make it possible for the pigs to be available to global pork-producing markets.
It isn’t possible to say exactly when the pigs will be available as it depends on regulatory approval, but the team hopes it could be within five years.
The agreement comes 25 years after the Roslin Institute made history with the cloning of Dolly the sheep, ‘opening the door to the gene editing industry’.
Meat from ‘super pigs’ (pictured) could hit British supermarket shelves in the next few years after scientists sign an agreement to breed the disease-resistant animals. Stock image
The PRRS virus works to infect pigs using a specific receptor on the surface of their cells known as the CD163 receptor.
The Roslin Institute’s breakthrough came by removing a small section of the gene that codes for this receptor.
The team focused on the section of the receptor that the virus attaches to, leaving the rest of the molecule intact.
Working with Genus, they were then able to produce generations of pigs with this specific DNA change.
Genus are working with the FDA to submit required studies and will have them completed by the end of 2023.
They are doing similar work with other countries that have less advanced laws surrounding genetically edited livestock.
They can’t say when it will be available on the market as it depends on the landscape and regulation in each country.
Genetically modified animals are banned from the food chain in Europe. It is not clear what regulations would apply to gene-edited animals, however, as the approach is different.
GM techniques have been controversial because they can involve introducing genes of other species into an animal.
In contrast, gene editing speeds up processes that could occur naturally through breeding over many generations, without introducing genes from other species.
‘This is not a theory about something in the future, the proof of concept is done, so in this case five years is a realistic estimate, but it may be shorter,’ said Professor Bruce Whitelaw, Interim Director of the Roslin Institute.
Genus are working with the FDA to submit required studies – including testing multiple generations of gene edited pigs (pictured) and will have them completed by the end of 2023
The gene edited trait will be sold by Genus globally to ‘as many people as possible’ as it will help to reduce the spread of the virus.
Before the meat can hit shelves in as little as five years, the quality and safety of the product has to be tested over multiple generations of gene edited pigs.
Dr Elena Rice, Chief Scientific Officer at Genus PLC, said they have to work closely with the FDA to gain approval to sell the pigs.
‘A recent trial revealed that gene edited pigs were 100 per cent resistant to the virus.
‘We already have data showing the trait can be passed on through generations, what we need now is evidence for the FDA is the animal is exactly the same as a non-edited control animal over several generations.
‘We also need to show there is no environmental impact of introducing gene edited animals into the farm. We are confident it is safe.’
Dr John Lonsdale, Head of Enterprise at Edinburgh Innovations, that facilitated the agreement, said: ‘Animal health is a keystone of animal welfare as well as bringing benefits to food-producing economies and global food security.’
‘The strong, productive and durable partnership with Genus has been a key aspect in seeing academic endeavour translate to useful and useable translational projects for the livestock sector,’ Professor Whitelaw explained.
Genus will bring a relationship with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), insights into the pork sector, access to a supply chain and distribution channels.
They will also be responsible for testing multiple generations of the pigs and conduct studies required to get approval for sale from the FDA.
Professor Jon Oatley, Associate Dean for Research, Washington State University, not involved in the study, said the future of animal food production will be producing more with less, including less antibiotics to mitigate disease.
University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute and genetics company Genus will produce pigs that are resistant to a respiratory disease affecting livestock worldwide. Stock image
‘That is what gene editing allows us to do quickly and today we can generate real world impact through genomic strategies,’ he said.
‘When we think how fast we can get some of these discoveries from the lab bench to the public domain, we have to think about concept, scaling and regulatory approval.
‘Once all of those boxes are checked, then we have to think about how we get widespread dissemination as we can have perfect genetics but you have to transmit, at scale, those precision genomes through sperm and eggs.’
Professor Joyce Tait, Founding Director of the Innogen Institute, University of Edinburgh, said it takes a long time for these products to come to market.
‘We are now seeing different fields of science coming together to create an important opportunity in the field of animal biotechnology,’ she explained.
‘The biggest disincentive so far to developing new technologies in the animal husbandry area is the lack of regulation in any countries.
‘In some government quarters there is still nervousness, but I’m hoping we will be able to make this work in a more evidence based way than in the past.
‘It is not a good idea to make decisions on the result of a public opinion polls, it does matter but can change and it is changing in this matter. I think the benefits vastly outweigh the risks.
‘I think it should go ahead as rapidly as possible’.
Professor Whitelaw said the Roslin Institute is ‘rightly recognised’ for pioneering animal biotechnology, including cloning Dolly the sheep 25 years ago.
Dolly was a paradigm shift in science, prior to that it wasn’t clear if it was possible to re-program cells, after that it was known it was possible.
Just the discovery of Dolly, and the ability of the mammalian cell to be re-programmed opened up a whole new field of research.
The technically difficult research behind Dolly’s birth in 1996 has supported new understandings of stem cells.
Scientists are researching how to control their development, and how mature cells may revert to behave once more as undeveloped cells.
Insights from Dolly have also enabled advances in gene modification and gene editing – which is what the institute have used to solve the virus problem.
It was a seminal breakthrough at the time and scientists are still learning from it today, using a combination of gene editing and cloning.
HOW WAS DOLLY THE SHEEP CREATED?
Dolly was the only surviving lamb from 277 cloning attempts and was created from a mammary cell taken from a six-year-old Finn Dorset sheep.
She was created in 1996 at a laboratory in Edinburgh using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).
The pioneering technique involved transferring the nucleus of an adult cell into an unfertilised egg cell whose own nucleus had been removed.
Dolly the sheep made history 20 years ago after being cloned at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh. Pictured is Dolly in 2002
An electric shock stimulated the hybrid cell to begin dividing and generate an embryo, which was then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother.
Dolly was the first successfully produced clone from a cell taken from an adult mammal.
Dolly’s creation showed that genes in the nucleus of a mature cell are still able to revert back to an embryonic totipotent state – meaning the cell can divide to produce all of the difference cells in an animal.
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