What Gene-Altering for Pigs and Ants Might Mean for Humans

[Dashinka 24,800]

By

Amy Dockser Marcus

Amy Dockser Marcus

The Wall Street Journal

•  
• BiographyAmy Dockser Marcus
• Amy.Marcus@wsj.com

Aug. 10, 2017 2:00 p.m. ET

 

In new studies that demonstrate how quickly genetics science is advancing, researchers used the Crispr gene-editing system to make long-sought alterations in animals, with potential relevance for human health.

In one study, scientists created piglets that no longer have active genes for a pig virus, a key step in making their organs suitable for transplant in humans. The pigs, the oldest of which are four months old, will also allow researchers to study the long-term consequences of gene editing in an organism with similarities to humans.

Separately, two research teams altered the genes of ants in a way that changed their social behavior, bringing ants into the pantheon of creatures along with mice and fruit flies that are useful for studying human disorders. Ants, like humans, exhibit complex social behavior.

 

“Instead of having just a few organisms in all of biological research, with Crispr now any organism can be used to study fundamental questions of biology,” said Shelley Berger of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, part of the team using Crispr in Indian jumping ants.

Crispr, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, evolved over millions of years as the immune system of bacteria. Scientists adapted it to create a system that enables cutting, deleting, modifying or correcting disease-causing mutations at targeted spots in the genome, including those of animals and humans. The Crispr-Cas9 system holds great potential for developing treatments for human diseases, and is currently being studied in cancer, muscular dystrophy and many other conditions.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-gene-altering-for-pigs-and-ants-might-mean-for-humans-1502388021

[IAMX 3,055]

People today are freaking out about I think it was genetically altered Salmon in Quebec or somewhere (altering it to be twice the normal size and consume less, much akin to fish out here in Alberta).

 

Can extend the global warming hysteria to this. Lots of hysteria from nutty leftists regarding GMO.

Edited August 10, 2017 by IAMX

[jg121783 3,921]

I think GMO is a far more important issue than global warming.