Genetically modified pigs may help us clean up pollution.
Researchers at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario have developed a new line of genetically modified “Enviropigs.” These new pigs are part of the Cassie genetic line.
The team modified the pigs’ salivary glands, allowing them to digest phosphorous, which is vital for healthy pigs. But getting phosphorous into a pig’s diet in an agricultural environment can be difficult, as most of the phosphorous in the grain that makes up pig feed comes in the form of phytic acid, which is indigestible for pigs.
To get the phosphorous in grain up to 50 to 70 percent, farmers have used a supplement containing the enzyme phytase. The expensive enzyme enables pigs to break down the phytic acid, allowing them to digest more of the phosphorous. But the use of phytase is precarious because of its high price, and the fragile enzyme can be destroyed or damaged when adding it to feed.
Genetically modifying pigs able to synthesize phytase seeks to solve this problem. Scientists at the University of Guelph modified the pigs, dubbed “Enviropigs,” to break down phytic acid in their salivary glands. This removes the need for the phytase enzyme, and could save swine farmers lots of money.
Because the enviropigs are able to digest more phosphorous, their waste contains much less phosphorous, which pollutes the environment. Excess phosphorous causes algae blooms in aquatic environments, which deprive other plants of sunlight and often kill aquatic grasses, which can have a chain reaction on the rest of the ecosystem.
Enviropigs are currently not available for human consumption.
“When transgenic food animals are accepted by consumers, the Enviropig perhaps would be one of the first innovations to be introduced into swine production,” Dr. Cecil Forsberg, co-author of the study and professor emeritus, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Guelph, told Science Daily. “We have demonstrated that the gene can be transferred by breeding through many generations in a stable fashion. Furthermore, the pigs are healthy.”
Research on the Enviropig’s Cassini line was stopped when backer Ontario Pork pulled funding, but the team has kept sperm samples from the genetically modified pigs in case funding is restored.
