Key result
Gene-editing simulations show mosaicism level impacts swine influenza resistance allele fixation more than editing efficiency.
Why the study?
Developing swine Influenza A Virus resistance through genetic technologies could complement current control measures to help improve animal welfare standards and economic efficiency of pig production.
In simulated commercial swine breeding, gene-editing-associated mosaicism significantly impacts the time to reach resistance allele fixation and genetic progress more than editing efficiency.
Mosaicism reduction may warrant priority in swine gene-editing models; leaves open empirical validation of fixation timelines.
The development of swine Influenza A Virus resistance along with genetic technologies could complement current control measures to help to improve animal welfare standards and the economic efficiency of pig production. We have created a simulation model to assess the genetic and economic implications of various gene-editing methods that could be implemented in a commercial, multi-tiered swine breeding system. Our results demonstrate the length of the gene-editing program was negatively associated with genetic progress in commercial pigs and that the time required to reach fixation of resistance alleles was reduced if the efficiency of gene-editing is greater. The simulations included the resistance conferred in a digenic model, the inclusion of genetic mosaicism in progeny, and the effects of selection accuracy. In all scenarios, the level of mosaicism had a greater effect on the time required to reach resistance allele fixation and the genetic progress of the herd than gene-editing efficiency and zygote survival. The economic analysis highlights that selection accuracy will not affect the duration of gene-editing and the investment required compared to the effects of gene-editing-associated mosaicism and the swine Influenza A Virus control strategy on farms. These modelling results provide novel insights into the economic and genetic implications of targeting two genes in a commercial pig gene-editing program and the effects of selection accuracy and mosaicism.
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Salvesen et al. (2022) studied Influenza A Virus resistance in pigs. Gene-editing methods was evaluated on Time required to reach resistance allele fixation and genetic progress. Simulation modeling of gene-editing for swine Influenza A Virus resistance showed that mosaicism level had a greater effect on time to allele fixation and genetic progress than editing efficiency.
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