**3.2 Specific disease models in pigs**

The pig genome has been extensively sequenced and gene-editing technology has been applied to multiple pig strains so far [5, 54]. These techniques have been already largely applied to pigs to create a model for several diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, diabetes mellitus, and neuromuscular disorder [50].

Regarding a model for cardiovascular diseases, Matsunari et al. recently established a genetically modified pig cardiomyopathy model in which they knocked out the δ-sarcoglycan (δ-SG) gene (SGCD) of domestic pigs by the combination of efficient de novo gene editing and SCNT. SGCD-/- cloned pigs exhibit systolic dysfunction similar to that found in human dilated cardiomyopathy and are expected to be highly applicable for the exploration of the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of therapeutic strategies, as well as for elucidating the underlying mechanisms of new treatments for genetic cardiomyopathy [11, 53].

Blutke et al. established a comprehensive biobank of long-term diabetic INSC94Y transgenic pigs, a model of mutant INS gene-induced diabetes of youth (MIDY), which is a model of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. It is designed to help diabetes researchers discover the molecules and mechanisms involved in the long-term complications of the disease [7, 55]. Furthermore, it would be possible to create human-like atherosclerotic disease models using this severe diabetes mellitus model in the future. Klymiuk et al. established a tailored pig model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) by deleting DMD exon 52 in male pig cells and showed the similarity of the transcriptome in dystrophin-deficient pigs with patients with DMD [8]. This technology might pave the way to establish a DMD-related cardiomyopathy model.
