Developments in domestic animal embryo manipulation technology
which support the application of molecular biology to animal production
H.R. Tervit, J.G. Thompson, A.J. Peterson
MAF Technology, Ruakura Agricultural Centre, Hamilton
Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production.
1990, 50: 181-190
Currently most transgenic animals are produced by microinjecting
DNA into a pronucleus of in vivo derived embryos. This is an
inefficient procedure because of the costs of animals, superovulation
and surgery, the low numbers of embryos produced, and their poor
viability after injection. Thus, in most well run programmes, only
about 10% of injected sheep, pig and cattle embryos result in offspring
and only 0.5 to 1% in transgenic offspring. Methods for improving the
efficiency are discussed and it is concluded that effective in
vitro maturation (IVM), fertilisation (IVF) and culture techniques
and alternative methods of gene insertion (particularly through stem
cells or sperm - mediated insertion) would make significant
contributions to improved results. Ruakura's successful sheep and
cattle in vitro oocyte maturation, fertilisation and culture
programme and its results are discussed. Recent developments in MOET
techniques are discussed and it is concluded that, in the short term, it
is possible that more effective multiplication of transgenics could
arise from successful IVM/IVF and nuclear transplantation procedures
than from significant improvements in current MOET technology. The
in vitro produced egg therefore has considerable potential for
increasing the efficiency of producing and multiplying transgenics.
Keywords: NZSAPAB;
Embryo; transgenic; DNA; clone; MOET; IVM; IVF; culture;
pregnancy; sperm
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Last Updated 25-01-1997
