Sperm cells as vectors in the production of transgenic animals.

摘要

Transgenic animals are used in industry and in biomedical research in order to provide in vivo experimental model systems. Sperm cells have been reported used as vectors in the production of transgenic animals before, however no approach has of yet proven to be successful. Fertilizing eggs with genetically modified sperm would be advantageous in that sperm are readily accessible and stable, and eggs can be fertilized by modified sperm cells in vivo. Recent elucidations regarding the unique manner of DNA packaging in sperm chromatin by protamines has provided us with the insight for developing a method of introducing foreign DNA into sperm which is likely to succeed where others have failed. We have developed a method for mimicking the in vivo system of sperm chromatin toroid subunits in vitro, concentrating these toroids, and fluorescent visualization. Our present work concerns development of a method to successfully deliver DNA across the cell membranes and into the nucleus.