Next generation transgenic technologies for the chick

鸡胚是脊椎动物发育研究的一个成熟模型，特别是因为它可以接触到卵中的胚胎并进行实验操作，包括胚胎材料的移植、生长因子的应用、通过电穿孔与基因构建的瞬时转染或逆转录病毒载体的感染。鸡也是鸟类一般生理学研究的模式物种，例如光周期和季节性。家禽当然是一种重要的农业物种，在英国对鸡的遗传和生理方面进行了重要的研究，这些研究与家禽的繁殖和生产有关。研究人员在研究鸡的技术中缺少一个重要的工具，那就是进行基因改造的能力。我们建立了一种有效的生产转基因鸟类的方法，将慢病毒载体注射到新产下的鸡胚中，然后将注射的胚胎培养孵化。我们正在建议进一步开发转基因工具，用于鸡的基因改造。我们的目的是提高转基因鸟类的生产效率，并证明我们可以使用新的工具来直接研究鸟类的基因功能。这些进展将通过了解家禽的疾病易感性和耐药性来支持脊椎动物发育的基础生物学研究。

The chick embryo is a well-established model for the study of vertebrate development, particularly because it is possible to access the embryos in ovo and carry out experimental manipulations that include grafting of embryonic material, application of growth factors, transient transfection with gene constructs by electroporation or infection with retroviral vectors. The chicken is also a model species for investigation of the general physiology of birds, for example photoperiodism and seasonality. The domestic fowl is of course an important agricultural species and there is significant research in the UK into aspects of the genetics and physiology of the chicken relevant to poultry breeding and production. A significant tool that was missing from the repertoire of technologies available to researchers studying the chicken was the ability to make genetic modifications. We established an effective method for production of transgenic birds, by injection of lentiviral vectors into chick embryos in new laid eggs, followed by culture of injected embryos to hatch. We are proposing additional development of transgenic tools for genetic modification of the chick. Our aim is to improve the efficiency of production of transgenic birds and demonstrate that we can use novel tools to investigate gene function directly in birds. These advances will support research in basic biology of vertebrate development through to understanding aspects of disease susceptibility and resistance in poultry.