Affiliation:
1. National Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
2. College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The emergence and spread of the African swine fever virus (ASFV) posed a significant threat to the global swine breeding industry, calling for innovative approaches benefiting viral containment and control. A recent study (Z. Zheng, L. Xu, H. Dou, Y. Zhou, X., et al., Microbiol Spectr 12: e02164-23, 2024,
https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02164-23
) established a multiplexed CRISPR-Cas system targeting the genome of ASFV and tested the consequent antiviral activity both
in vitro
and
in vivo
. Application of this system showed a significant reduction of viral replication
in vitro
, while the germline-edited pigs expressing this system exhibited normal growth with continuous guide RNA expression. Although no survival advantage was observed upon ASFV challenge compared with nonengineered pigs, this marks the first attempt of germline editing to pursue ASFV resistance and paves the way for future disease-resistant animal breeding approaches utilizing CRISPR-Cas technology.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology