Transgenic animal production: present scenario-a review

Abstract

The advent of DNA recombinant technology and the possibility of gene transfer between organisms have opened a wide range of possibilities for improvement of livestock production and human health care products. The recent advances in gene transfer, animal cloning, and assisted reproductive techniques have partly fulfilled the expectation in the field of livestock transgenesis. This paper reviews the recent advances and applications of transgenesis in livestock and their derivative products. Typical agricultural applications include improved carcass composition, wool production, and lactation performance which is enhanced disease resistance and reduced environmental impact. Transgenic farm animals have also become important in human medicine as sources of biologically active proteins, as donors in xenotransplantation, for research in cell and gene therapy and for human disease modeling. Until recently, pronuclear microinjection of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was the standard method for producing transgenic animals. This technique is now being replaced by more efficient protocols based on somatic nuclear transfer that also permit targeted genetic modifications. Lentiviral vectors and small interfering ribonucleic acid technology are also becoming important tools for transpenesis.