Advances in genetic engineering have allowed scientists to produce the first cattle that may be biologically incapable of getting mad cow disease.First, they cultivated a colony of cattle cells in a laboratory dish. Then they used a genetic engineering method to "knock out" just one gene inside each cell -- the gene that directs the production of prion proteins.
Finally, using cloning techniques, the team grew a dozen calves, each from one of those altered cells. Because the starter cell from which each animal was grown lacked the prion gene, so did all the daughter cells that ultimately constituted the animals' bodies.
Today, as far as scientists can tell, those 12 cattle are wholly lacking in prions.
The animals, which lack a gene that is crucial to the disease's progression, were not designed for use as food. They were created so that human pharmaceuticals can be made in their blood without the danger that those products might get contaminated with the infectious agent that causes mad cow.
Link & Image: Washington Post
Tags: Cow | Genetics | Mad Cow Disease | Animal
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