Successful Production of Transgenic Chicken by DNA Injection into Germinal Crescent Region (GCR) of Chicken Embryos

Abstract

Morimoto, T., Arima, T., Furuta, H. and Fujihara, N. 2002. Successful production of transgenic chicken by DNA injection into germinal crescent region (GCR) of chicken embryos. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 21: 97–108. A foreign gene (Green Fluorescent Protein; GFP) was injected into the germinal crescent region (GCR) of chicken embryos (stage 9–11) to produce germ-line transgenic chickens. After 3 days of injection, 21 manipulated embryos (19.4%) had the expression of GFP gene in embryonic tissues. The presence of injected gene was recognized in the gonads (95.5%), blood (35.0%) and sperm cells (14.3%) when examined by PCR analysis. In addition, in the progeny test, the fertility (42.9%) of the cross breed between DNA treated chickens was lower than that (88.0%) of the cross breed between the treated chickens and the normal ones. The expression of GFP gene in the progeny embryos (F0) was not confirmed under a fluorescent microscope. The presence of GFP gene in the progenies was approximately 80% for the hybrid between treated chickens and approximately 29% for the hybrid between the treated chicken and normal ones. In this experiment, on the other hand, some of the treated chicken showed abnormal characteristics such as low fertility and production of abnormal egg. Collectively, the present study suggests the possibility of successful production of transgenic chicken by means of the introduction of foreign gene into the developing chicken embryos.