Meet cosmo, a bull calf capable of producing more male offsprings | How is it even possible?

Gene knock in is a process by which the geneticists insert a gene of interest into the genetic material of an organism. The latest achievement in this field is the production of a male calf using this process, who will be capable of producing more male offspring than females.


Scientists at University of California, Davis used CRISPR technology to insert the gene of desire SRY into the chromosome No. 17 of this beef breed calf. This was not so simple, but the whole process took almost 4 years to be employed successfully.


The earlier attempts were to insert the SRY gene into X chromosome of the calf at embryo stage which was unsuccessful. If it ever happened, we would have been at a stage where a male calf would produce only male calves, but it didn’t happen.


What is SRY gene?


Meet cosmo, a bull calf capable of producing more male offsprings


SRY gene is not actual sex determining gene but it imparts male characteristics to an individual. It mean an individual with SRY gene will look and behave like males even if its genome contains XX instead of XY. The bull calf produced in this case will produce 75% offspring with male characters and 25% females.


Why we need male calves?


In beef industry, male calves are much more worth than the females. Male calves are more fuel efficient, which mean they will consume less feed and convert it to meat more efficiently as compared to their female counter parts. This is not only of economic importance to the farmers but also contributes in reducing the pollution in the environment.


Related article: Effect of feeding on milk fat percentage of dairy animals

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