New research may offer a solution to East Coast Fever, a disease that kills around 1m cows a year in African countries
is part of a process of programmed cellular suicide called apoptosis, which helps regulate cell numbers.
The current study examined 20 animals carrying two copies of the variant version. Just one of these succumbed to. In contrast, 44 of 97 cows without the variant succumbed. The results, says Dr Prendergast, suggest thattolerance. He and his colleagues, though not sure exactly why that might be, think this variant may stop cattle lymphocytes from multiplying as quickly.
Their discovery could soon lead to better selective breeding. Once researchers are sure the variant does not have adverse side-effects, African cattle breeders can test their animals’-resistant offspring. In the longer term, gene-editing techniques such as-Cas9 may permit the protective version to be spliced into productive European breeds, which can then be raised far more successfully in Africa.
Such gene-editing programmes are increasingly common, and are achieving official acceptance. In March, regulators in America approved the first sales to consumers of meat from gene-edited cattle. The International Livestock Research Institute and Roslin, meanwhile, are designing livestock resistant to other diseases, including trypanosomiasis, a protozoan illness spread by tsetse flies.
By reducing mortality and increasing productivity, gene-edited European livestock could have a useful effect in Africa—though some worry the benefits are overstated. Dr Prendergast points to the many other animal diseases prevalent on the continent, to which such cattle would still be susceptible. He suggests farmers might be better off breeding local varieties for resistance .
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