Large Animal Transgenics - An Overview

The ability to make targeted modifications to the chromosomes of vertebrate animals has been among the most transcendent of technologies developed over the last half-century.  While it would be impossible to accurately ascertain the monetary value associated with these techniques, they have certainly revolutionized the approaches to biomedical and genetic research.  But even with all the good that has come from small animal transgenesis, there are limits to the applicability of the resulting research, largely because of the poor suitability of small animal models for many human disease conditions.  The advent of cloning technologies by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) opened up a new world of possibilities, however, with the ability to modify the genomes of large domestic species.  These advances include those for human biomedical research, but also intriguing potential within the realm of production agriculture.  A few examples of such research efforts will be discussed.  Also to be discussed are practical matters that are being considered in the ongoing efforts to make large animal transgenesis a more efficient proposition.