Part cow, part… bacterium? Biotech company makes heifer of gene-editing blunder

Enlarge / A Holstein calf, which has not been gene-edited. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

A Minnesota-based gene-editing company is left red in the face after it took on bull genetics-and got slammed.

The company, Recombinetics, set out years ago to genetically engineer Holstein dairy cattle to come without their troublesome horns, which farmers typically remove to keep themselves and other cows safe. In 2015, the company seemed to have succeeded, unveiling two hornless bulls, Spotigy and Buri. Recombinetics touted them as a bona fide, 100%-bovine success story.

Though Spotigy was sacrificed for research, Buri lived on to sire 17 offspring-one of whom graced the cover of Wired, as MIT Technology Review notes. And, until just a few months ago, Brazil was set to create a herd of hornless Holsteins from shipments of Buri's sperm, Wired reported.

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments