Pigs with DNAJC14 gene-edition are resistant to classical pestiviruses
Pestiviruses incur significant economic and welfare burdens on global livestock production.
The researchers used gene editing to produce pigs that were fully resistant to the pestivirus classical swine fever virus.
DNAJC14 is essential for replication of classical pestiviruses in cell lines in vitro, but its importance for these viruses in the context of an animal was unknown. The authors used CRISPR/Cas to edit pig DNAJC14 in zygotes, which developed to produce healthy animals.
Primary cells isolated from DNAJC14- edited pigs were resistant to infection with two different pestiviruses: classical swine fever virus and bovine viral diarrhoea virus.
No signs of infection were detected when young adult pigs with edited DNAJC14 were inoculated with classical swine fever virus, demonstrating gene editing as a viable option for control of these devastating pathogens.
https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/fulltext/S0167-7799(25)00365-8
