
In the News: Gene-Edited Super Horses?
Argentine biotech firm Kheiron have produced the world’s first genetically edited horses using a technique called CRISPR-Cas9.
It was recently announced that five gene-edited foals were born last October and November in Argentina using genes from Argentine Association of Polo Horse Breeders Hall of Fame mare Polo Pureza.
“We design their genome before they are born,” said Gabriel Vichera, co-founder and scientific director of Kheiron. “We do this by using the so-called genetic scissors techniques, which are molecular tools that allow us to go to any region of the genome, make a precise cut and be able to make a change in that genome.”
Scientists edited the genes related to speed.
“There are certain muscle fibers that give it more explosiveness, a faster contraction, and the animal can have this greater explosive speed,” Vichera said, adding that the goal was to incorporate these genes “into a single generation in a precise manner.”
Vichera emphasizes that the horses comply with current Argentine regulations and do not count as genetic doping or genetically modified organisms.
But let’s face it… this could be as controversial as cloning.
With cloning, not only are there moral implications—in 2011, The Horse reported that up to half of clones were born with abnormalities—but legal ones as well, as reported by Kjirsten Lee back in 2017.
Yet time and science march on. Clones are now competing in almost every equestrian sport, with many excelling at the top of their discipline.
Back in 2017, during a polo clinic with Adam Snow, I asked Adam how he felt about Adolfo Cambiaso’s infamously cloned polo horses. I remember him being quite reticent with the question, noting Cambiaso’s obvious success with the cloned mounts, and then more passionate as he began to reminisce about a lifetime of horses he had owned, played and loved.
“What would have happened if I found just one and stuck with it for the next ten years? Twenty? The rest of my life?” I remember him asking with a shrug.
What do you think, Horse Nation?
Go riding.
Amanda Uechi Ronan is an equestrian, author, and wannabe race car driver. Follow her on Instagram @amanda_uechi_ronan