Generation of Pigs that Produce Single Sex Progeny.

Abstract

In livestock industry, one sex is usually preferred over the other due to its impact on the production (e.g., milk from cows, eggs from laying hens, or meat from bulls). Boar taint, to which most of the consumers are susceptible, is a major challenge for the pork industry in the light of the enacted ban of castration without anesthesia from 2021 in Germany. Consequently, a shift towards an increased female ratio would be of great benefit for the pork production. We recently described that a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of the porcine SRY gene by intracytoplasmic microinjection or SCNT resulted in genetically male pigs with a female phenotype. This sex reversal study in pigs revealed a pivotal role of the SRY gene in male sex determination and might pave the way for the generation of boars that produce only female offspring.