THIS PROJECT IS INVESTIGATING A COMBINATION OF BIOTECHNOLOGIES (E.G., GENE EDITING AND PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS) WITH ADVANCED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES TO DEVELOP A BOVINE GERMLINE COMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM. THE PROCESS OF GERMLINE COMPLEMENTATION USES DONOR CELLS FROM ONE GENETIC BACKGROUND TO COMPLEMENT OR REPLACE THE GERMLINE (POPULATION OF GERM CELLS) OF AN OTHERWISE STERILE HOST OF A DIFFERENT GENETIC BACKGROUND. BY DEVELOPING A METHOD TO REPLACE THE GERMLINE OF GENE-EDITED, GERMLINE-DEFICIENT (I.E., STERILE) COMMERCIAL CATTLE WITH GERM CELLS FROM HIGH MERIT DONOR ANIMALS, THIS RESEARCH COULD DELIVER AN APPROACH TO EXPAND THE AVAILABILITY OF GAMETES (I.E., SPERM OR EGGS) FROM GENETICALLY SUPERIOR ANIMALS VIA NATURAL SERVICE. ULTIMATELY, GERMLINE COMPLEMENTATION TECHNOLOGY COULD ENABLE THE EFFICIENT GENERATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF SUPERIOR CATTLE GENETICSAND/OR TRAITS IMPROVED VIA GENE EDITINGTO ENHANCE THE SUSTAINABILITY AND QUALITY OF ANIMAL-SOURCE PROTEIN.