"No three horns, no five hooves." What those transgenic goats really look like

A herd of transgenic goats lives near Zhodino. The BELTA film crew looked into the experimental production and found out how animals differ from ordinary animals, what lactoferrin is and why the project is so important that scientists from both countries are working on it jointly.


- We are at the biotechnological experimental production on transgenesis of the scientific and practical center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for animal husbandry. Our herd of goats lives here. Both transgenic and non-transgenic individuals are kept together. Maintenance, diet, feeding, watering, milking, all veterinary and biotechnological measures are, in principle, no different. As you can see, they have neither three horns, nor five hooves, nor two tails. The only way to distinguish transgenic animals from ordinary ones is the presence of an integrated gene that encodes the synthesis of lactoferrin in the genome, says Dmitry Bogdanovich, General DIRECTOR of the Republican Unitary Enterprise Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Animal Husbandry.

Lactoferrin is an iron-containing protein responsible for the formation of immunity in mammals in the first stages of development. There were two programs with the Russian Federation: "BelRosTransgen" and "BelRosTransgen-2". Scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Gene Biology, have developed a gene construct. And our specialists, scientists at the livestock breeding center, have developed the technology for producing primary transgenic animals.

In 2017, the first transgenic goats were born - Lac-1 and Lac-2 - based on the human lactoferrin gene. Let's give this figure: 500 biotechnological operations were carried out, two of them were successful. Two transgenic animals, confirmed by all packages of documents. Imagine the level of difficulty!

- Cow lactoferrin is very popular now. Its content in MILK is very small - 0.1-0.12 grams per liter. In our studies that resulted in our transgenic animals, the average lactoferrin content is now 3-3.5 grams per liter. The difference is colossal.

By the way, the identity of cow protein is 66% for humans, the goat biosimilar is 99.9%, that is, it is practically human protein.

- In a woman’s milk, this concentration ranges from 1 to 3 milligrams per milliliter. It was these [indicators] that were taken as the basis for creating a transgenic animal, in whose milk a large amount of lactoferrin would be produced, which would be a biological analogue of lactoferrin in human milk, explained Elena Petrushko, a researcher at the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Animal Husbandry."

The advantage of recombinant lactoferrin is that, being a component of the human body, it has increased sensitivity. So, this is an antimicrobial and antiviral protein; if we take recombinant lactoferrin during some periods of inflammatory conditions, its effect is enhanced due to the fact that the sensitivity receptors are the same. Moreover, it will not be as immunogenic as cow milk, scientists say.

- Our protein is used in scientific developments initiated by both the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and various state and private enterprises. Unfortunately, the product has not yet been widely used. This is due to restrictions in regulations,” added Dmitry Bogdanovich.

The protein has a very wide profile: immunostimulating, bactericidal, antitumor, antiviral. For example, the Institute of Physiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus is now launching a series of experiments with an effect on obesity.

- Research has been conducted to restore the reproductive function of rats. Older males were given milk with lactoferrin, and this contributed to the normalization of the hormonal status of testosterone at the level of not young, but mature, not old males.

The main goal of experimental production is to carry out biotechnological work to preserve the gene in the genome, increase the amount and activity of lactoferrin in milk, and improve the quality (of both milk and protein). The milk yield requirements are still minimal.

Different breeding schemes are being developed: a pair of transgenic and ordinary goats (and either the father or the mother can be the carrier of that same gene), transgenic and transgenic. Thanks to this, selection and breeding work is carried out , the gene is transmitted at a fairly high level - heritability is almost 50%.

- Currently there are 240 heads of total livestock. Of these, about 200 are transgenic goats of various sexes and ages, 40 are ordinary goats, which are used in crossbreeding systems and biotechnological aspects. Work with livestock is ongoing: the gene needs to be controlled, improved, and the percentage of transmission to offspring must be increased. It is necessary to constantly work with the quality of milk and the amount of protein. Scientific programs are being conducted that include work with sperm products, eggs, and embryos. In addition, work is underway to increase the milk yield of transgenic animals.

There were also interruptions in funding - the center coped with its own funds. As Dmitry Bogdanovich says, goats are living organisms; you cannot turn them off at night.

The same milkcan be used in two ways. The first is actually used as milk for feeding farm animals. It is especially useful for increasing immunity and good weight gain in calves in the first 90 days of life. The second direction is the isolation of the glycoprotein itself from milk containing a bioanalogue of lactoferrin. It can be used in dietary supplements, cosmetology, medicine, and sports nutrition. There is a new joint project with Roscosmos: lactoferrin will also participate in the first flight of our cosmonaut in order to test its beneficial properties not only on Earth.

- Both to improve the HEALTH of astronauts and for sanitation. There are very small rooms, every gram is important, let's say. There are questions about new sanitization and disinfection systems.

| Prepared from BELTA video