Scientists have bred cows with ‘elite genetics’ that could see tastier steaks, burgers and mince on supermarket shelves in the UK in just three years.
Experts in the US have come up with a way to make sperm from superior bulls more available to breeders.
Their project, called ‘Surrogate Sires’, involves genetically editing regular bulls to make them sterile, meaning they produce none of their own sperm.
These animals then receive an injection of stem cells taken from the testicles of another bull with ‘first-class genetics’.
When these ‘surrogate’ bulls go on to breed, they pass on the ‘top grade’ genes from the other bull – meaning their offspring will contain superior traits that make their meat taste better.
As a result the most desirable steaks – from the likes of Wagyu and Black Angus cows – could soon become more widely available.
The work was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Phoenix.
The technology has been patented and licensed to the UK-based Pig Improvement Company which intends to commercialise the system in the next three to five years, it is understood.
The technology could mean the most desirable steaks – from the likes of Wagyu and Black Angus cows – may soon become more widely available (file image)
‘Surrogate Sires can become an opportunity for many farmers to access genetics they never could have before,’ Dr Jon Oatley, from Washington State University, said.
‘It breaks open a whole new market in beef cattle production.’
The calves produced through the Surrogate Sire process are not gene edited, and neither is their biological father, Dr Oatley explained.
However, he also argued that the world must embrace a future where controversial gene-edited foods are commonplace on supermarket shelves.
He said we will soon be eating meat and drinking milk from animals whose evolution has been ‘sped up’ using technology.
This could include cows and chickens bred to resist disease and grow faster, as gene editing techniques make them ‘more efficient’ in every way.
Experts are working out how to ‘accelerate’ the selection of traits that already occur naturally within an animal, he explained.
For thousands of years, humans have already been genetically modifying animals by selectively breeding cows, pigs, sheep and chickens to make them produce more milk, reach adulthood faster, grow thicker wool or lay more eggs.
Experts in the US have come up with a way to make sperm from superior bulls, like this Black Angus, more available to breeders (file image)
Modern gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR allow scientists to perform the same process, but greatly sped up.
The technique differs from genetically-modified (GM) produce – dubbed ‘Frankenfood’.
That’s because it alters the existing DNA of a plant or animal rather than adding DNA from different species.
The UK is currently rewriting its legislation around gene-edited foods and the first gene-edited crops are expected to be available in shops this year.
WHAT IS CRISPR-CAS9?
Crispr-Cas9 is a tool for making precise edits in DNA, discovered in bacteria.
The acronym stands for ‘Clustered Regularly Inter-Spaced Palindromic Repeats’.
The technique involves a DNA cutting enzyme and a small tag which tells the enzyme where to cut.
The CRISPR/Cas9 technique uses tags which identify the location of the mutation, and an enzyme, which acts as tiny scissors, to cut DNA in a precise place, allowing small portions of a gene to be removed
By editing this tag, scientists are able to target the enzyme to specific regions of DNA and make precise cuts, wherever they like.
It has been used to ‘silence’ genes – effectively switching them off.
When cellular machinery repairs the DNA break, it removes a small snip of DNA.
In this way, researchers can precisely turn off specific genes in the genome.
The approach has been used previously to edit the HBB gene responsible for a condition called β-thalassaemia.
