CRISPR used in cows to help fight tuberculosis

Mooooove over CRISPR chickens, pigs and goats. The powerful gene-editing tool is another step closer to transforming the barnyard.

Researchers at China’s Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University tailored a CRISPR/Cas 9 technique to give cloned dairy cows a leg up against the bacteria behind bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis), a threat to cows in many parts of the world. Last year, another group used TALENs, an older gene-editing technology, to create two cows without horns, but this is the first time scientists have reported using CRISPR to insert a gene in cattle.

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