Derivation of chicken primordial germ cells using an indirect Co-culture system

摘要

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are promising genetic resources for avian studies including modified animals. However, chicken PGCs are slow to proliferate and gradually lose germline competency after longterm culture, which hinders their application in avian biotechnology. Thus, we developed a robust method for the isolation and rapid propagation of PGCs using an indirect co-culture system. PGC5 derived from a pair of embryonic chicken gonads were expanded to 1 x 10(6) within 2 weeks, and no sex bias was observed in. These PGCs presented high capacity of germline transmission and produced donor-derived offspring after injection into the chicken embryos. This system allows the efficient gene-banking of chicken species and can facilitate the production of chickens bearing a desired phenotype via genomic editing. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.