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Surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical center successfully transplanted the heart of a genetically modified pig into a human.
https://bioinformaticshub.net/first-pig-to-human-heart-transplant/
The question is what are the genes that were modified in the pig to make it more human? and how was this done?
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A major genetic difference between humans/higher apes and pigs is that they do not share a working version of gal-transferase.
That gene is called galactose-alpha-1,3,galactotransferase — gal-transferase for short . All mammals except humans and higher apes have a working version of gal-transferase, which coats cells with an antigen. This means if pig tissue is transplanted into humans our immune system will mount a drastic rejection response as our bodies detect the antigen and attack it. Pigs weren’t part of that lineage. This is a fact, established by comparative research on genomes. Humans are closely related to chimpanzees (and gorillas), with whom we share this missing gene.
source: evolution – Are humans descended from chimp-pig hybrids? – Skeptics Stack Exchange
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Ten genes in the donor pig were altered before the transplant could take place. Three of these genes cause human bodies to reject pig organs, so these were knocked out. Six genes were inserted to help control immune acceptance of the pig heart, and one additional gene was knocked out to stop excessive growth of the pig heart tissue.
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