Genetic-editing of chickens protects them from catching the flu

The genome of the humble chicken has been edited to protect them from avian influenza. When the edited birds were then exposed to avian flu they were largely resistant to it, with nine in 10 birds uninfected. ‘This promises a new way to make permanent changes in the disease resistance of an animal,’ says Mike McGrew at the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, who was involved in the research.

An H5N1 flu strain is currently killing huge numbers of wild birds across Asia, Europe and the Americas, as well as occasionally devastating farmed poultry and killing mammals. ‘There is a growing fear that bird flu could jump to humans and lead to another pandemic,’ says McGrew. A gene-editing strategy could both protect poultry and reduce the risk of bird flu spreading to poultry farmers and wild birds.