https://en.people.cn/n3/2025/1028/c90000-20382815.html

A gene-edited black goat designed to tolerate high temperatures and humidity was born at Guangdong Ocean University’s engineering research center for livestock and poultry breeding.

The goat, with a 246 bp sequence knocked out in the prolactin PRLR gene and weighing about 1,100 grams at birth, has grown to weigh nearly 4,300 grams, 300 grams more than that of the control group. It has a larger appetite and a greater advantage in weight gain.

After embryo transfer and a 150-day gestation period, the goat named Hai Yang was born on Aug 25, more than two weeks premature.

The birth of Hai Yang marks significant progress in China’s innovation of black goat germplasm resources that are adaptable to the hot, humid climate of tropical coastal areas and suitable for grazing in coastal “tidal flat pastures”. Continuous high temperatures in the southern Chinese region in summer and global climate change pose severe challenges to the livestock and aquatic industries.

The second and third batches of PRLR gene-edited goats will be born at the end of November and early December.