A recent study has revealed that a new gene editing technology called CRISPR is being used on chickens to enhance their resistance to the bird flu (avian influenza). Researchers are attempting the CRISPR technique to contain the virus genetically, due to the increasingly lethal mutations of the bird flu spreading around the globe.
CRISPR entails the use of a molecular tool that allows scientists to make targeted edits within DNA. After CRISPR was performed within the study, the scientists then gene edited chickens that were nasally infected with a drastically amplified flu dosage.
While samples taken from the infected chickens showed the gene-editing was successful, it also showed that the process quickly caused several mutations, which means that scientists still have to address the possibility that further evolution of the virus could still occur, and make a bird flu epidemic worse.
As reported by The New York Times, Wendy Barclay, a virologist at Imperial College London and an author of the study, commented on this at a news briefing, saying, “The research is ‘proof of concept that we can move toward making chickens resistant to the virus. But we’re not there yet.’”
SOURCE: New York Times October 10, 2023