Argentine biotech firm Kheiron has produced the world’s first gene-edited horses using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology on cloned embryos from champion polo horse Polo Pureza.
CRISPR created five foals featuring reduced myostatin gene expression designed to enhance muscle growth and explosive speed.
Despite Argentina’s status as polo’s global capital and its acceptance of cloning, the sport’s governing bodies have banned gene-edited horses from competition.
Breeders remain divided between traditional breeding advocates and those embracing biotechnology.
Benjamin Araya, president of the Argentine Polo Association expressed: “This takes away the charm, this takes away the magic of breeding, I like to choose a mare, choose a stallion, cross them, and hope that it will turn out very well.”
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The Argentine Polo Horse Breeders Association will monitor the horses for 4-5 years before registration approval.
Kheiron has paused commercialization pending industry acceptance, though geneticists note the edit uses natural DNA sequences that accelerate conventional breeding outcomes.
The development represents the latest innovation in polo’s elite breeding industry, which exported 2,400 horses last year and dominates international competitions.