"Classical swine fever, also known as hog cholera or pig plague, causes fever, skin lesions, convulsions, diarrhoea and often death within 15 days. In the UK, periodic outbreaks since the 1960s, have led to the culling of 75,000 pigs. And in countries such as China, Russia and Brazil, where the disease is endemic, CSF is controlled through costly and labour-intensive vaccination programmes and international trade restrictions."
"The latest study, the first to demonstrate resistance through gene editing, targeted a gene responsible for producing a protein called DNAJC14. This protein had been shown to play a critical role in the replication of pestiviruses (the virus family that includes CSF) once they enter the cell. Previous studies in cells had found that altering just a few letters of the DNA code blocked viral replication."
Gene-edited pigs with precise edits to the DNAJC14 gene remained healthy when exposed to classical swine fever, a highly contagious and often fatal pestivirus. DNAJC14 produces a protein critical for pestivirus replication once the virus enters cells; altering a few DNA letters in cells had previously blocked viral replication. The Roslin Institute produced a line of pigs carrying the same edits. Four edited pigs and four control pigs were exposed to CSF at APHA's biosecure facility. Control animals developed disease within a week, while the edited animals showed resistance. CSF causes fever, lesions, convulsions, diarrhoea and often death, and it remains endemic in several countries.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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