Transgenesis techniques and its application in poultry production

B Okon,G.N Njume,L.A Ibom

doi:10.4314/gjass.v15i1.2

Abstract

The advent of DNA recombinant technology and the possibility of gene transfer between organisms of different species have presented a wide range of possibilities for the improvement of livestock production. This is demonstrated by the recent progress in gene transfer, animal cloning and assisted reproductive techniques in the field of livestock transgenesis. The ability to introduce foreign DNA into the genome of an organism has proven to be one of the most efficient tools in animal breeding and modern biology. Transgenesis is applied in production of therapeutic proteins, improvement of economic traits such as meat quality, disease resistance, feed conversion efficiency; as well as protection of humans from zoonotic diseases. Thus, transgenic technologies may revolutionalize the production of poultry birds with improved meat quality, low fats, low cholesterol as well as disease resistance in addition to production of biopharmaceutical products with efficiencies far greater than any conventional breeding methods. KEYWORDS : Gene transfer, usefulness, poultry production, techniques.

Highlights

The provision of food rich in quality and quantity for the increasing human population has over the years been a challenge for biologists and agriculturists
This paper aims at highlighting the techniques and usefulness of poultry transgenesis
This is such that desirable alleles are bred into new poultry strains, once identified

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The provision of food rich in quality and quantity for the increasing human population has over the years been a challenge for biologists and agriculturists. The introduction of exogenous genes to recipient embryo tissues in order to achieve their transfer into germ line has led to the development of a number of techniques (Pettite, 1998; McGrew et al, 2004; Scott and Lais, 2005; Jahav and Siddiqui, 2007). Efficient targeting of the germ cells is essential for successful production of transgenic poultry (Pettite, 1998; McGrew et al, 2004; Jahav and Siddiqui, 2007; Scott et al, 2010). Lentiviral transgenesis: Lentiviral vectors have emerged as a more efficient and versatile technique for the production of transgenic birds in a variety of poultry species (McGrew et al, 2004; Chapman et al, 2005; and Scott and Lois, 2005) These authors noted that transgenesis carried out by lentiviruses are permanently integrated into the genome of infected cells and inherited by all their daughter cells. Scott et al (2010) reported that some world renown pharmaceutical companies are involved in production of therapeutic proteins through poultry transgenesis (See Table 1 below):

Avi Genics

CONCLUSION