The CRISPR Journal<\/a>, researchers used CRISPR gene editing to remove the gene responsible for producing the major protein called Can f 1 that triggers dog allergies in many people.\u00a0<\/p>\nUsing CRISPR-Cas9, the scientists edited skin cells taken from the beagles. CRISPR acts a bit like molecular scissors, cutting DNA at a precise location. In this case, they introduced a tiny one-letter insertion into the Can f 1 gene that disrupted its instructions, preventing the protein from being made.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those edited cells were then used in somatic cell nuclear transfer, the same cloning technique used to create Dolly the sheep. The DNA from an edited cell was placed into a donor egg, creating an embryo carrying the genetic change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The team produced 25 embryos and implanted them into a surrogate beagle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two embryos developed successfully and became puppies called Bailey and Alfie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The researchers then sequenced the puppies’ DNA to confirm that the intended genetic change was present and checked if any other parts of the genome were accidentally edited.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Next the scientists collected saliva, hair and dander from the edited beagles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They also collected samples from a normal beagle, a standard poodle and a goldendoodle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Using a laboratory technique called a Western blot, which detects specific proteins, they searched for Can f 1.\u00a0
The results showed the normal beagle, poodle and goldendoodle all produced the allergen but the gene-edited dogs didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This also reinforced something many allergy specialists have said for years: poodles and doodles still produce the major dog allergen despite often being described as hypoallergenic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally the experiment involved testing these new Beagles on humans with known dog allergies using a classic skin prick test.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tiny drops containing extracts from different dogs were placed on the volunteer’s arm before gently pricking the skin. If the immune system recognised the allergen, a raised itchy bump called a wheal would appear within about 20 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The normal beagle, poodle and goldendoodle produced the expected allergic reaction, but extracts from Bailey and Alfie produced no detectable skin reaction at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So far, Bailey and Alfie appear to be developing normally with no obvious health problems linked to the missing gene.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For decades we’ve treated allergies by trying to change the person, using medications or immunotherapy to calm the immune system.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of changing the immune system, the researchers changed the source of the allergen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether gene-edited allergy-friendly dogs eventually become widely available remains to be seen. There are still ethical, regulatory and practical questions to answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But scientifically, it’s an elegant demonstration of what modern gene editing can achieve.<\/p>\n
LISTEN ABOVE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you love dogs but can\u2019t own one because of allergies, scientists may have a solution. In a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[9213,111,139,69,1518,147],"class_list":["post-563398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-dogs","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-research","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}