7 Nov
2023
7 Nov
'23
7:17 a.m.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davewessner/2023/10/13/crispr-cas9-edited-chick... As avian influenza viruses continue to affect bird populations throughout the world, researchers have explored various means of controlling this pathogen. On Tuesday, scientists reported in the journal Nature Communications the latest approach. Using the gene editing technique CRISPR-Cas9, they created genetically engineered chickens that exhibited significant resistance to these viruses. That’s the good news. The bad news? The viruses rapidly accumulated mutations that negated the effectiveness of this salvo. Moreover, these mutations may enable the viruses to replicate more efficiently in humans. What could possibly go wrong?