Advancing immunity and disease resistance in chickens through genome editing

Poultry is a major nutritional source providing food for large human populations. Infectious diseases threaten the productivity of poultry flocks and diminish animal welfare. Recent advances in genome editing have significantly contributed to our understanding of various physiological aspects and have helped elucidate the interaction between the chicken host and pathogens. Several chicken lines were generated, including those with Type I and Type III interferon receptor knockouts, those lacking specific T cell populations, and those missing contributing factors to V(D)J recombination, such as the recombination-activating gene 1 (RAG1). In addition, researchers achieved resistance to the avian influenza virus (AIV) by targeting acidic nuclear phosphoproteins. Finally, reinstating retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) and RING finger protein 135 (RNF135) in the chicken revealed new insights into their evolutionary role, particularly during host-pathogen interactions with AIV. This review provides an update about recent achievements in genome editing of chickens, particularly in immunology and disease resistance.