The Superpowers of Genetically Modified Pigs
Several years ago, at a lab near a massive experimental farm in Guangdong Province in China, scientists prepped a whopping 4,008 genetically modified pig embryos for implantation into just 16 sows. It's a numbers game these livestock engineers are familiar with; knowing that many embryos will n...
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Veröffentlicht in: | The Scientist 2018-08, Vol.32 (8) |
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Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Online-Zugang: | Volltext |
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Zusammenfassung: | Several years ago, at a lab near a massive experimental farm in Guangdong Province in China, scientists prepped a whopping 4,008 genetically modified pig embryos for implantation into just 16 sows. It's a numbers game these livestock engineers are familiar with; knowing that many embryos will not survive the procedure--and those that do may not make it through gestation or life beyond the womb--the researchers overproduce embryos and hope for the best. For this project, Jinzeng Yang's colleagues were trying something scientifically ambitious: introducing genes for three microbial enzymes into the pigs' genomes that were intended to help the animals metabolize their feed more efficiently, while producing less nitrogen and phosphorus waste. |
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ISSN: | 0890-3670 1547-0806 |