Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Poking the Pig


The Roslin Institute may be creating the world's first commercially accepted GM domestic animals (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/23/could-these-piglets-become-britains-first-commercially-viable-gm-animals). They have modified pigs, using techniques that do not involve retroviruses to transfer genes or changing antibiotic resistance, so that the pig's immune system is more like that of a warthog. African swine fever kills pigs by 'sending their immune systems into overdrive'. It also infects warthogs but they quickly recover as their immune systems respond more modestly. The hope is that the modified pigs will be healthier than their unmodified cousins and this will reduce the incidence of losses in pig colonies (which can be very high). The claim is that the only remaining obstructions to the adoption of the super pigs are legal rather than scientific

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