Gene editing to produce 'super dad' livestock - BBC News

The pigs, goats, cattle and mice make sperm carrying the genetic material of donor animals.

The animals were born sterile, but began producing sperm after an injection of sperm-producing cells from donor animals.

The technique would enable surrogate males to sire offspring carrying the genetic material of valuable elite animals such as prize bulls, said a US-UK team.

The surrogate sires were confirmed to have active donor sperm.

The larger animals have not yet been bred.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is examining the ethical issues raised by the use of gene-editing techniques in farmed animals

Gene-editing could form part of the response to many of the challenges facing societies in different parts of the world, including securing access to healthy and nutritious food, said director Hugh Whittall

"These are among the questions that we are exploring in our current inquiry on genome editing and farmed animals."