Roslin Institute’s pioneering work Ongoing work at the Roslin Institute is to gene-edit poultry to potentially prevent birds from spreading avian influenza. And the latest success in this long-running project has been to gene-edit chicken cells to prevent them from spreading the virus. Researchers have been able to target a specific molecule inside chicken cells called ANP32A, which the influenza virus takes over to help replicate itself. The work was a collaboration between Roslin and Imperial College London. After removing the section of DNA responsible for producing ANP32A, the vi- rus was no longer able to grow inside cells with the genetic change. The research was conducted last year and published recently in the journal eLife. It was funded by the UK Govern- ment’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, with additional support from Cobb Vantress. Researchers at the Roslin Institute previously worked with ex- perts from Cambridge University to produce chickens that did not transmit bird flu to other chickens following infection, us- ing genetic modification techniques. The new approach dif- fers because it does not involve introducing new genetic ma- terial into the bird’s DNA. The Roslin Institute’s Dr Mike McGrew said: “This is an important advance that suggests we may be able to use gene-editing techniques to produce
chickens that are resistant to bird flu. “We haven’t produced any birds yet and we need to check if the DNA change has any other effects on the bird cells before we can take this next step.” “We have long known that chickens are a reservoir for flu viruses that might spark the next pandemic,” added Wendy Barclay, chair in influenza virology at Imperial College London. “In this research, we have identified the smallest pos- sible genetic change we can make to chickens that can help to stop the virus taking hold. This has the potential to stop the next flu pandemic at its source.”
Aviagen updates performance guidelines Just up the road from the Roslin and Allermuir research facili- ties is Aviagen’s headquarters, and it was recently able to up- date its global performance guidelines. The updated guide- lines now suggest a target FCR for birds grown to 2.5kg of 1.53, down from 1.62 in its previous performance objectives. Breastmeat yield is also up 2.08% to 23.68%. Aviagen said the targets reflected “continued genetic improvement” and could be achieved in the field under good management conditions. The firm also issued new nutrition guidelines, but recommen- dations remain unaltered from those made in the company’s 2014 update.
▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 6, 2019
The SRUC’s Jos Houdijk (left) shows Lord Hen- ley, Parliamenta- ry Under Secre- tary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and In- dustrial Strategy around on an open day of the brand new facilities.
29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
