US scientists are using gene editing technology to create hypoallergenic cats
Cats are man’s lovable companions in this day and age. However, with 20% of the world’s population suffering from cat allergies, the complete elimination of this restriction has been and is being focused on by scientists. Research efforts have yielded positive results.
Most notably, Inbio, an American biotech company by editing cat genes in the laboratory, is aiming to create generations of hypoallergenic cats. Deletion of the allergen gene produced no adverse effects during cat cell culture.
With a state-of-the-art gene-editing tool called CRISPR, scientists have found a way to stop cells from producing the protein Fel d 1, which is responsible for 95 percent of allergic reactions in cats.
Protein Fel d 1 is secreted from the tears or saliva of cats, and then sticks to their fur by the habit of licking the body. When coming into contact with cat fur contaminated with Fel d 1, many people will immediately have an allergic reaction.
Allergic proteins stick to the cat’s coat due to the habit of licking and cleaning the body.
Eradicating a protein that causes allergies in cats is nothing new in the scientific world, but the US biological team’s advance lies in the fact that they were able to simplify the way it was done.
According to the scientific journal CRISPR: “From an owner’s perspective, eliminating cat allergens in the past is often expensive, and the process can have consequences. But the method. InBio has outstanding advantages in terms of efficiency, economy and ethics. The way to remove the gene is as simple as a quick injection.”
The InBio company’s method is also very safe. Long-term research shows that the Fed d1 protein is not essential for the biological life of cats. It’s not clear to the team why cats make the Fel d 1 protein. Certain cat breeds like the Balinese make less of the Fel d 1 than others.
InBio Company offers one more solution to help people with cat allergies.
Several other methods of making cats hypoallergenic have been tried before. In 2020, pet food company Purina released kibble, an egg-based protein blend that inhibits Fel d 1.
It was shown to be 47% effective at removing allergenic proteins from cat hair after three weeks of use. Other cat vaccines currently being studied have success rates of 50%.
InBio claims their new research provides the most effective, economical, safe and accessible solution available.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: genk.vn – Read the original article here
