Abstract
Many transgenic animals have been produced using CRISPR–Cas9 technology
to edit specific genes. However, there are few guidelines for the
application of this technique in cattle. The goal of this study was to
produce trait-improved cattle using the genome editing technology
CRISPR–Cas9. Myostatin (MSTN) was selected as a target locus and
synthetic mRNA of sgRNA and Cas9 was microinjected into bovine in vitro
fertilized embryos. As a result, 17 healthy calves were born and 3 of
these showed MSTN mutation rates of 10.5%, 45.4%, and 99.9%,
respectively. Importantly, the offspring with the 99.9% MSTN mutation
rate had biallelic mutation (-12bp) and a doubling muscle growth
phenotype. In conclusion, we showed that the genome editing technology
CRISPR–Cas9 can produce genetically modified calves with improved
traits.