Srinagar, May 27 -- The researchers and scientists at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-Kashmir) have produced "India's first gene-edited" sheep, marking a milestone in the field of animal biotechnology, officials of the varsity said on Monday. The university said the "path-breaking development" places India on the global map of advanced genome editing technologies. The gene-edited lamb has been modified for "myostatin gene", a regulator of muscle growth. Through the editing, the scientists have enhanced the lamb's muscle mass by 30% without any cross-breeding. The high muscle mass is a trait absent in Indian sheep breeds but known in select European breeds such as the texel, university officials said. "This is the first animal in India which has been produced through gene editing, a technique developed in 2020," said Riaz Ahmad Shah, a professor at the division of animal biotechnology, Shuhama campus, SKUAST, and the lead scientist in the project at the Embryo Biotechnology Lab. This comes 12 years after Shah and his team cloned a pashmina goat clone -- 'Noori' -- in 2012, another first in India and a milestone that garnered global acclaim. Shah said his team had been working on embryo technology for the past 12 years after they cloned the pashmina goat. He said they started working on gene editing using a technique by Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020 for developing a genome editing method. Shah said they grew the embryo in the lab, edited its gene and then transplanted that in a female sheep. "The lamb gave birth three months back. We tested the results for gene editing and survival and the results were satisfactory," he said. Shah added that gene editing technology is still in its infancy in India and that there is a need for framing regulations. "Gene editing can help us in introducing good characteristics in animals, but first, regulations should be framed on where to use it. Once that is allowed, you can use the gene editing in muscle increase and disease resistance," he said. The varsity said the lamb contains no foreign DNA, distinguishing it from transgenic organisms and paving way for regulatory approval under India's evolving biotech policy framework. Vice chancellor Nazir Ahmad Ganai termed the development as the "birth of a new era". "This is not just the birth of a lamb, but the birth of a new era in livestock genetics in India," Ganai said. The VC briefed J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha about the research. Sinha commended the team's efforts and their contribution to advancing scientific frontiers in the region....