科学家用基因编辑让鸡获得对禽流感的部分抵抗力

新研究结果显示，可以通过基因编辑让鸡获得对禽流感的部分抵抗力。科学家表示，进一步改变鸡的基因将能培育出对禽流感完全免疫的鸡。

Researchers have developed gene-edited chickens that are partially resistant to bird flu.

研究人员通过基因编辑让鸡获得了对禽流感的部分抵抗力。

Although the birds are not completely immune, the scientists say their work shows it might be possible to block the virus in three years.

尽管经过基因编辑的鸡对禽流感不能完全免疫，但是科学家表示，他们的研究表明，未来三年内可能会成功阻断禽流感病毒。

The latest results suggest that making further changes to the birds' DNA could produce fully immune chickens.

这一最新研究结果显示，进一步改变鸡的基因将能培育出对禽流感完全免疫的鸡。

The researchers identified three genes they believed were important for the bird flu (formally known as avian influenza) virus to reproduce in the chickens. They made two small changes to one of the genes using a technique known as gene editing.

研究人员识别出了他们认为能帮助禽流感病毒在鸡体内复制的三种重要基因。他们用基因编辑术对其中一种基因做了两个小改动。

The resulting chickens had no side effects after two years. They also had increased resistance to bird flu, but were not fully immune: half the chickens infected with a high dose of the virus developed an infection.

接受基因编辑的鸡在两年后没有表现出副作用。这些鸡对禽流感的抵抗力增强了，但不是完全免疫：半数鸡在接触大量禽流感病毒后被感染了。

Prof Mike McGrew told BBC News that experiments in test tubes showed if changes are made to all three genes, then a fully resistant bird might be possible.

麦克·麦格鲁教授告诉BBC新闻网称，试管实验表明，如果对三种基因都做改动，那么可能会培育出可以完全抵抗禽流感的鸡。

Bird flu is a major global threat, with a devastating impact in both farmed and wild bird populations. In the UK alone, the current outbreak of H5N1 bird flu has decimated seabird populations and cost the poultry industry more than £100 million in losses.

禽流感是全球的一大健康威胁，对养殖和野生禽类具有毁灭性影响。仅在英国，当前暴发的H5N1禽流感就致使大批海鸟死亡，给养禽业造成超1亿英镑的损失。