Empowering of reproductive health of farm animals through genome editing technology

Abstract

To cater the exponential growth of human population, need to improve food production and quality through modern biotechnology with limited recourses in a way that has minimal impact on the environment. The selective breeding and genomic selection have attended the momentum gain in livestock productivity. Recent advancement in genome-editing technologies offers exciting prospects for the production of healthy and prolific livestock. Genome editing involves altering genetic material by manipulation, addition, or removal of certain deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences at a specific locus in a way that does not occur naturally. The major genome editors are zinc finger nucleases, transcription-activator-like endonucleases, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats associated protein nine systems which are proficient of cutting the nuclear DNA precisely at a predetermined position. This review provides an update on the use of genome editing systems to modify the genes related to reproduction of farm animal vis-à-vis human, update knowledge on the underlying mechanism and discusses new opportunities to produce genetically modified farm animals.