Zhang Xiaoyi

    417880236@qq.com

    A PAIR of gene-edited micropigs stole the show at the China Hi-Tech Fair. The pigs were specially created by BGI, a Shenzhen-based genomics institute, and will remain small their entire lives.

    The tiny pigs on display were 7 months old and weighed around 5 kilograms.

    “They are gene-edited, not genetically modified,” said a staff member to people taking pictures.

    “It will weigh about 15 kilograms after one more year,” said the staff member, who declined to be named. The micropigs should live over 10 years and one micropig is now worth around 10,000 yuan (US$1,569).

    According to staff at the booth, the pigs will not be sold, but may be up for adoption starting next year. Another staff member said the pigs could also be used for medical experiments.

    The micropigs were already in the spotlight at the Shenzhen International Biotech Leaders Summit in September this year. A story about them was published in the magazine Nature. The gene-edited pigs were created from a breed of pigs called Wuzhishan pigs, which are already smaller than regular pigs.

    The micropig project is one of many projects coming out of a BGI-led life science incubator, called Miracle Light. According to BGI’s brochure, it is the first life science incubator in China.