Highly efficient generation of sheep with a defined FecBB mutation via adenine base editing.

Base editing has the potential to improve important economic traits in agriculture and can precisely convert single nucleotides in DNA or RNA sequences into minimal double-strand DNA breaks (DSB). Adenine base editors (ABE) have recently emerged as a base editing tool for the conversion of targeted A:T to G:C, but have not yet been used in sheep. ABEmax is one of the latest versions of ABE, which consists of a catalytically-impaired nuclease and a laboratory-evolved DNA-adenosine deaminase. The Booroola fecundity (FecBB) mutation (g.A746G, p.Q249R) in the bone morphogenetic protein receptor 1B (BMPR1B) gene influences fecundity in many sheep breeds. In this study, by using ABEmax we successfully obtained lambs with defined point mutations that result in an amino acid substitution (p.Gln249Arg). The efficiency of the defined point mutations was 75% in newborn lambs, since six lambs were heterozygous at the FecBB mutation site (g.A746G, p.Q249R), and two lambs were wild-type. We did not detect off-target mutations in the eight edited lambs. Here, we report the validation of the first gene-edited sheep generated by ABE and highlight its potential to improve economically important traits in livestock.

Oct4-enhanced green fluorescent protein transgenic pigs: a new large animal model for reprogramming studies.

The domesticated pig has emerged as an important tool for development of surgical techniques, advancement of xenotransplantation, creation of important disease models, and preclinical testing of novel cell therapies. However, germ line-competent pluripotent porcine stem cells have not yet been derived. This has been a major obstacle to genetic modification of pigs. The transcription factor Oct4 is essential for the maintenance of pluripotency and for reprogramming somatic cells to a pluripotent state. Here, we report the production of transgenic pigs carrying an 18 kb genomic sequence of the murine Oct4 gene fused to the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) cDNA (OG2 construct) to allow identification of pluripotent cells by monitoring Oct4 expression by EGFP fluorescence. Eleven viable transgenic piglets were produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer. Expression of the EGFP reporter construct was confined to germ line cells, the inner cell mass and trophectoderm of blastocysts, and testicular germ cells. Reprogramming of fibroblasts from these animals by fusion with pluripotent murine embryonic stem cells or viral transduction with human OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC cDNAs resulted in Oct4-EGFP reactivation. The OG2 pigs have thus proved useful for monitoring reprogramming and the induction and maintenance of pluripotency in porcine cells. In conclusion, the OG2 transgenic pigs are a new large animal model for studying the derivation and maintenance of pluripotent cells, and will be valuable for the development of cell therapy.

The perspectives for porcine-to-human xenografts.

The shortage of donated human organs for transplantation continues to be a life threatening problem for patients suffering from complete organ failure. Although this gap is increasing due to the demographic changes in aging Western populations, it is generally accepted that international trading in human organ is not an ethical solution. Alternatives to the use of human organs for transplantation must be developed and these alternatives include stem cell therapy, artificial organs and organs from other species, i.e. xenografts. For practical reasons but most importantly because of its physiological similarity with humans, the pig is generally accepted as the species of choice for xenotransplantation. Nevertheless, before porcine organs can be used in human xenotransplantation, it is necessary to make a series of precise genetic modifications to the porcine genome, including the addition of genes for factors which suppress the rejection of transplanted porcine tissues and the inactivation or removal of undesirable genes which can only be accomplished at this time by targeted recombination and somatic nuclear transfer. This review will give an insight into the advances in transgenic manipulation and cloning in pigs--in the context of porcine-to-human xenotransplantation.