By modifying their genomes, British scientists have discovered they may partially shield chickens from bird flu infections. This discovery suggests a new potential tactic to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

Since 2022, highly pathogenic avian influenza, sometimes known as bird flu, has expanded to new regions of the world, killing millions of poultry animals and driving up the price of eggs and turkey.

Although the current strain hasn’t significantly affected human health, experts caution that mutations could potentially threaten a pandemic.

The gene ANP32, which is crucial for maintaining influenza viruses inside chicken cells, was altered specifically using the gene-editing technique CRISPR, according to researchers. DNA can be edited using CRISPR, a kind of molecular “scissor” technology.

The changes made in chickens were intended to restrict the spread of avian flu since flu viruses need proteins like ANP32 inside cells to aid in their own replication.

The number of cases tends to increase when the virus-transmitting wild birds migrate in the spring and autumn, and the United States this week reported the first case in a commercial flock since April.

According to Wendy Barclay, a flu expert and professor at the Imperial College of London, experiments revealed that nearly all of the gene-edited chicks shown resistance to lower dosages of a less deadly type of bird flu than the H5N1 virus that has lately spread over the world.

However, she noted that when birds were exposed to far greater virus concentrations, nearly half of the gene-edited chickens developed breakthrough infections.

“We can move toward making chickens resistant to the virus but we’re not there yet,” Barclay said. “We would need more edits – more robust edits – to really shut down the virus replication.”

On Tuesday, the results are expected to be published in Nature Communications.

According to current research, improving three key genetic modifications in chicken cells will improve the protection of birds. Helen Sang, who previously investigated genetically engineering hens against bird flu at the University of Edinburgh, claimed that they have not yet grown chicks with three modifications.

Scientists discovered, according to Sang, that genetic alteration would not be effective enough.

Gene editing modifies existing genes as opposed to genetic modification, which introduces alien genes. The technology is thought to be less contentious than genetic alteration and is subject to less stringent regulation in some nations.

“The way forwards here is not to rely on single edits but to use a combination of them,” Barclay said.

This month, France became the first nation in the European Union to immunise chickens against the virus.

However, as a result of that tactic, the U.S. placed trade restrictions on French chicken imports, citing a potential risk of spreading the virus because vaccinated birds might not exhibit symptoms of infection.

(Adapted from Nature.com)

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