According to Xiao, pig pluripotent stem cells are useful in many ways, such as engineering transgenic animals for organ transplantation therapies. Pigs are significantly similar to humans in form and function, and the size and shape of their organs are largely similar.

"We could use embryonic stem cells or induced stem cells to modify the immune-related genes in the pig to make the pig organ compatible with the human immune system," Xiao said, adding that the modification would allow pigs to be used as organ donors for human patients.

Pig pluripotent stem cell lines could also be used to create models for human genetic diseases. Many human diseases, such as diabetes, are caused by genetic disorders.

"We could modify the pig gene in the stem cells and generate pigs that carry the same gene disorder so that they would have a similar syndrome to that seen in human patients," said Xiao.

He said that it would then be possible to use the pig model to develop treatments. But he added that it could take several years before some of the potential medical applications of the research could be deployed in clinical use.

Another possible use would be to breed gene-modified pigs that are resistant to diseases like the A/H1N1 flu. "We would do this by first finding a gene that has anti-A/H1N1 flu properties, or those that inhibit the proliferation of the A/H1N1 flu virus. Second, we may then be able to introduce this gene into the pig via pluripotent stem cells, a process known as gene knock-in," said Xiao.

The discovery could be used to improve animal farming, not only by making livestock healthier, but also by modifying the growth-related genes to change and improve their natural growth rates.

In the next stage of research, pig iPS cells will be used to create genetically modified pigs that could provide organs for people, improve the species or be used for disease resistance.

The gene-modified animals would be either "knock-in" pigs where the iPS or ES cells have been used to transfer an additional bit of genetic material (such as a piece of human DNA) into the animal's genome, or "knock-out" pigs where the technology is used to prevent a particular gene from functioning.