Genetically edited chickens used to limit bird flu spread

Scientists in the UK have successfully used gene editing techniques to limit the spread of bird flu in chickens.

The researchers were able to restrict, but not completely block, the avian influenza virus from infecting the birds by precisely altering a small section of their DNA.

According to the study published in the journal Nature Communications, the modified birds showed no signs of any impact on the animals’ health or well-being.

While the findings are encouraging, further gene edits would be needed to produce chickens which cannot be infected by bird flu, the researchers said.

“Although we haven’t yet got the perfect combination of gene edits to take this approach into the field, the results have told us a lot about how influenza virus functions inside the infected cell and how to slow its replication,” said Professor Wendy Barclay, from Imperial College London.

Bird flu is a major global threat with a devastating impact in both farmed and wild bird populations.

The team bred chickens with small edits to a gene called ANP32A. During an infection, influenza viruses hijack the ANP32A protein to help replicate themselves.

However, when the gene-edited birds were exposed to a normal dose of virus -- the H9N2 strain of avian influenza -- 9 out of 10 birds remained uninfected and there was no spread to other chickens.

When the birds were exposed to an artificially high dose of virus, only half of them became infected.