Previously, the only method to reformthe genome was clone which was tedious and burdensome. However, it has gotten changed now. Puming Zhang and his research team who from BeijingProteome Research Center made the pigs to produce the HSA, using CRISPR/Cas9gene-modified tool. It makes the medicine production by using megafaunapossible. The relevant research result has been published on Scientific Reports.

HAS is the protein in human plasma. Itcan convey fatty acids, bile pigments, amino acids and so on in body fluid.Moreover, it can maintain the normal osmotic pressure in the blood. HAS can beused in curing shock, burn, blood supplement and plasma expander. Theresearchers have tried to produce the HAS in pig, but it became a big challengebecause it’s inevitable to generate the porcine albumin at the same time.

With the birth of CRISPR/Cas9gene-modified tool, it became easier to edit genome. Zhang and his team editedthe gene in pig zygote genome by this tool. They inserted the DNA coding of HASin the gene area of the porcine albumin. In order to avoid the generating ofthe porcine albumin, the researchers selected the special genetic locus which arethe backward position of the porcine albumin production genes.

Through gene editing, the research ersinserted 300 modified zygotes into 10 sows. While only half of them werepregnant successfully and given birth to 16 piglets. The researchers found thatthese piglets had carried genes which had been knocked in expectedly and theHSA could be detected in their flood. However, the content of HAS in thesepiglets were different. The researchers claim that these knock-in genes couldbe inherited by the further experiments.

Time: 2015.11.13

Source: Science and Technology Daily