Genome editing of pigs for agriculture and biomedicine

Abstract

Pigs serve as an important agricultural resource and animal model in biomedical studies. Efficient and precise modification of pig genome by using recently developed gene editing tools has significantly broadened the application of pig models in various research areas. The three types of site-specific nucleases, namely, zinc-finger nucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein, are the main gene editing tools that can efficiently introduce predetermined modifications, including knockouts and knockins, into the pig genome. These modifications can confer desired phenotypes to pigs to improve production traits, such as optimal meat production, enhanced feed digestibility, and disease resistance. Besides, given their genetic, anatomic, and physiologic similarities to humans, pigs can also be modified to model human diseases or to serve as an organ source for xenotransplantation to save human lives. To date, many genetically modified pig models with agricultural or biomedical values have been established by using gene editing tools. These pig models are expected to accelerate research progress in related fields and benefit humans.