Xenotransplantation is a promising strategy to alleviate the shortage of organs for human transplantation. In addition to the concern on pig-to-human immunological compatibility, the risk of cross-species transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) has impeded the clinical application of this approach. Earlier, we demonstrated the feasibility of inactivating PERV activity in an immortalized pig cell line. Here, we confirmed that PERVs infect human cells, and observed the horizontal transfer of PERVs among human cells. Using CRISPR-Cas9, we inactivated all the PERVs in a porcine primary cell line and generated PERV-inactivated pigs via somatic cell nuclear transfer. Our study highlighted the value of PERV inactivation to prevent cross-species viral transmission and demonstrated the successful production of PERV-inactivated animals to address the safety concern in clinical xenotransplantation.

Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by preferential loss of the medium spiny neurons in the striatum. Using CRISPR/Cas9 and somatic nuclear transfer technology, we established a knockin (KI) pig model of HD that endogenously expresses full-length mutant huntingtin (HTT). By breeding this HD pig model, we have successfully obtained F1 and F2 generation KI pigs. Characterization of founder and F1 KI pigs shows consistent movement, behavioral abnormalities, and early death, which are germline transmittable. More importantly, brains of HD KI pig display striking and selective degeneration of striatal medium spiny neurons. Thus, using a large animal model of HD, we demonstrate for the first time that overt and selective neurodegeneration seen in HD patients can be recapitulated by endogenously expressed mutant proteins in large mammals, a finding that also underscores the importance of using large mammals to investigate the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and their therapeutics.

No abstract

Dystrophinopathy, including Duchenne muscle dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscle dystrophy (BMD) is an incurable X-linked hereditary muscle dystrophy caused by a mutation in the DMD gene in coding dystrophin. Advances in further understanding DMD/BMD for therapy are expected. Studies on mdx mice and dogs with muscle dystrophy provide limited insight into DMD disease mechanisms and therapeutic testing because of the different pathological manifestations. Miniature pigs share similar physiology and anatomy with humans and are thus an excellent animal model of human disease. Here, we successfully achieved precise DMD targeting in Chinese Diannan miniature pigs by co-injecting zygotes with Cas9 mRNA and sgRNA targeting DMD. Two piglets were obtained after embryo transfer, one of piglets was identified as DMD-modified individual via traditional cloning, sequencing and T7EN1 cleavage assay. An examination of targeting rates in the DMD-modified piglet revealed that sgRNA:Cas9-mediated on-target mosaic mutations were 70% and 60% of dystrophin alleles in skeletal and smooth muscle, respectively. Meanwhile, no detectable off-target mutations were found, highlighting the high specificity of genetic modification using CRISPR/Cas9. The DMD-modified piglet exhibited degenerative and disordered phenotypes in skeletal and cardiac muscle, and declining thickness of smooth muscle in the stomach and intestine. In conclusion, we successfully generated myopathy animal model by modifying the DMD via CRISPR/Cas9 system in a miniature pig.

Background: Pigs have emerged as one of the most popular large animal models in biomedical research, which in many cases is considered as a superior choice over rodent models. In addition, transplantation studies using pig pluripotent stem (PS) cell derivatives may serve as a testbed for safety and efficacy prior to human trials. Recently, it has been shown that mouse and human PS cells cultured in LCDM (recombinant human LIF, CHIR 99021, (S)-(+)-dimethindene maleate, minocycline hydrochloride) medium exhibited extended developmental potential (designated as extended pluripotent stem cells, or EPS cells), which could generate both embryonic and extraembryonic tissues in chimeric mouse conceptus. Whether stable pig induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be generated in LCDM medium and their chimeric competency remains unknown. Methods: iPS cells were generated by infecting pig pericytes (PC) and embryonic fibroblasts (PEFs) with a retroviral vector encoding Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and cMyc reprogramming factors and subsequently cultured in a modified LCDM medium. The pluripotency of PC-iPS and PEF-iPS cells was characterized by examining the expression of pluripotencyrelated transcription factors and surface markers, transcriptome analysis, and in vitro and in vivo differentiation capabilities. Chimeric contribution of PC-iPS cells to mouse and pig conceptus was also evaluated with fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and PCR analysis.