Cloned testicles allow infertile goats to become ‘super dads’

Researchers believe gene-edited livestock fathering ‘elite’ offspring could boost food production, writes Adam Forrest

Scientists used gene-editing to create surrogate sires (PA)

Scientists have created a series of goats, pigs and cattle whose testicles are effectively cloned from a different male in a bid to create a new breed of “super dads” in the animal kingdom.

The farmed animals were all born sterile, but began producing sperm after a gene-editing tool allowed researchers in the UK and US to inject sperm-producing cells taken from specially-chosen donor animals.

It means the gene-edited goats, pigs and cattle could serve as viable “surrogate sires” – carrying only desirable genetic traits as they father the offspring of their “elite” donors.