Gene supplementation and editing in livestock for biomedical and agricultural applications

the conservation of gene-function and physiology between people and livestock species advocates for their utility in modeling human disease. Furthermore, agricultural animal production will play a pivotal role in providing high-quality protein to advance human health in the face of a burgeoning global population. Both the development of animal models and the improvement of livestock for food can be greatly facilitated by genetic engineering. Historically, genetic modification has largely been restricted to mice due to technological and logistical challenges. Recent developments have essentially eliminated the technological barriers to livestock genetic modification. Transposons provide an efficient, non-viral method for gene addition in livestock, without the use of an antibiotic resistance gene that could confound regulatory acceptance. the facile use of engineered nucleases to inactivate genes and to stimulate gene conversion in livestock will also be described. Finally, the loci to be engineered, and the species-dependent and geopolitical constraints on implementing genome engineering into animal production paradigms will be discussed. V-4-671 Gene supplementation and editing in livestock for biomedical and agricultural applications