Transgenic Animal Technology: Technique and Its Application to Improve Animal Productivity

Abstract

Animals with manipulated genetic material (carrying recombinant DNA) are known as transgenic animals. Transgenic technology provides a method to rapidly introduce new genes into animals without cross breeding. It is a powerful technique for studying fundamental problems of mammaliandevelopment. Transgenic technology has been developed and found perfect in the laboratory on mice. The three most common gene transfer techniques namely: DNA microinjection, ES-cell mediated and Retrovirus mediated gene transfer are the most important to have enabled to produce transgenic cattle, sheep, goat, pig and other animals. Transgenic animals have the potential of agricultural applications like improved growth rate and carcass composition, improved resistance to disease, increased milk yield, improved wool production and so on. The scientific outlook of right and wrong opinions about transgenic animals is called ethics of transgenic animals. These ethical and animal welfare issues surround transgenic animal technology and be only minimized or avoided through awareness creation about the merit of this technology.

Keywords: Animal productivity, Gene transfer, Recombinant DNA, Technique, Transgenic