Genome-Edited Hornless Cows’ Offspring Are Healthy: Study

All six calves inherited the gene for preventing horn growth, but four also got a piece of the plasmid used to introduce the sequence to their dad—complicating regulatory approval.

kerry grens
| 2 min read
buri recombinetics hornell cow hereford bull polled genetically engineered talens gmo cattle livestock

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

ABOVE: Genome-edited bull Buri (top row) was mated with six female horned cows (middle row) and sired six calves (bottom row).
FROM FIGURE 2 OF NAT BIOTECHNOL, DOI:10.1038/S41587-019-0266-0, 2019.

A genetically edited bull successfully passed down to his offspring a gene that scientists had introduced into his genome as an embryo so that he would not grow horns as an adult, scientists reported Monday (October 7) in Nature Biotechnology. The six calves—which, at two years of age, are perfectly healthy, the researchers report—are expected to lack the dangerous horns that are often removed from dairy cows in a process that is labor-intensive, costly, and dangerous itself.

Four of the calves also inherited a bit of the plasmid that had ferried the hornless gene, called POLLED, into the bull’s genome. The unintended presence of foreign DNA has derailed their route to market in Brazil and the US.

“We’ve demonstrated that healthy hornless ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • kerry grens

    Kerry Grens

    Kerry served as The Scientist’s news director until 2021. Before joining The Scientist in 2013, she was a stringer for Reuters Health, the senior health and science reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, and the health and science reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. Kerry got her start in journalism as a AAAS Mass Media fellow at KUNC in Colorado. She has a master’s in biological sciences from Stanford University and a biology degree from Loyola University Chicago.

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio
Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio