Argentine biotech firm breeds gene-edited polo super ponies

Argentina's Polo Pureza's genes live on in genetically edited horses designed to outrun her, created by Kheiron biotech firm.

Argentina's award-winning mare Polo Pureza will have her genes, or at least most of them, live on in five genetically edited horses designed to outrun the polo legend herself.

Scientists at Argentine biotech firm Kheiron have produced the world's first genetically edited horses using a technique called CRISPR-Cas9. The horses were born last October and November.

"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."

Polo Pureza, whose name translates from Spanish as "Polo Purity," was inducted into the Argentine Association of Polo Horse Breeders Hall of Fame.

Scientists took genes from Polo Pureza as the genetic base for the five horses, editing the genes to increase explosive speed while keeping the champion horse's other qualities.

"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 said that this means the horses comply with current Argentine regulations and do not count as genetic doping or genetically modified organisms.