January 22, 2019

UK scientists develop gene-edited chicks capable of fully resisting flu virus

UK scientists at the Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland are awaiting the birth of genetically modified chicks that could completely resist the flu virus.

The chicks, that will be hatched later this year, represent a major step towards stopping the next deadly human pandemic, according to a Reuters report.

Using the CRISPR gene editing technology, scientists altered the bird's DNA by removing parts of a protein on which the flu virus normally depends. Through this action, the birds are rendered completely resistant to flu. As a result, they form a "buffer between wild birds and humans," said  Wendy Barclay, a professor of virology at Imperial College London who is co-leading the project.

The human flu pandemic remains a serious concern, with the last of such an outbreak happening in 2009/10, and caused by the H1N1 strain that killed about half a million people worldwide.

There is also a lingering fear that a deadly strain could be passed from wild birds via poultry to humans, before evolving into an airborne form of pandemic. By creating the gene-edited birds, the next pandemic can be stopped "at source," Barclay added.

Barclay's team previously discovered that ANP32, a gene in chickens, encodes a protein that flu viruses depend on to infect a host. Laboratory tests of cells engineered to lack the gene showed they cannot be infected with flu.

Teaming up scientists at the Roslin, Barclay said the plan is to use CRISPR to edit the chicks' DNA so that only one part of the key protein is changed, leaving the rest of the bird exactly the same, genetically, as it was before.

 "We have identified the smallest change that will stop the virus in its tracks," she said. However, she also acknowledged that the public might be wary of consuming gene edited food.

- Reuters