Researchers at the University of Missouri and Kansas State University along with Genus plc have been able to breed pigs that don’t produce the protein that causes the spread of PRRS or porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome.  Missouri University Professor of Animal Sciences Randy (pray-thur) Prather says they were able to use new technology to alter the gene that causes the spread of PRRS.

 

He says this is a huge breakthrough for the swine industry which has cost North American Farmers more than $ 660 million annually.

 

Prather says he’s been working on this research for over a dozen years and found that pigs that didn’t produce the PRRS gene didn’t get sick and there were no other changes in their development compared to pigs that produce the protein.

 

The American Farm Bureau is calling this new gene technology editing a critical scientific breakthrough. It’ll be up to the hog breeding firm Genus to develop and commercialize the technology including convincing meat companies to buy gene altered pigs.