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Transgenic Animals
Biomedical Technology 1
Transgenic Animals
● Are species that carry one or
more genes from another
species
● Are important tools for
research
● Improving since the 1970s
Transgenic Animals
● Species carry one or
more genes from another
species
● Important tools for
research
Transgenic Mice
Early Beginnings
●Biotechnology--collection of scientific
techniques that use living cells and
molecules to make products and solve
problems
Early Beginnings
●used in selective breeding of livestock,
controlled plant pollination, and
microorganisms to bake bread, brew beer,
and make cheese
●first transgenic organisms were bacteria
Transgenic Animals
●Transgenic organisms--organisms that
contain another species genes within their
chromosomes (includes bacteria, plants,
microorganisms)
Transgenic Animals
Transgenic Animals
●mice
●sheep
●goats
●cows
●chickens
●pigs
●rabbits
●fish
Transgenic Animals-Benefits
●Animal Models
●Pharmaceutical production
o Pharming--using transgenic
animals to produce substances
used in medicine
●Organ donors
●Livestock improvement
Transgenic Animals
●mice-they reproduce quickly
●small- easily housed
●genetic makeup easily understood
●lifespan 2-3 years allowing researcher to
follow disease process from infancy to old
age over a short period of time
Transgenic Animals
●Xenograph--organ from another
species-used for organ transplant
o A xenograph from a pig can be
transplanted in a human to replace a
major blood vessel
o biggest challenge to using a pig
organ in a human is the risk for
rejection
Transgenic Animals
●Pigs carry few viruses or other infectious
agents that can be transferred to the organ
recipient as compared to nonhuman primates
who harbor viruses such as Ebola
●They reproduce quickly and have large litters
●less social opposition to using pigs than
nonhuman primates
●Researchers are working on techniques to
produce pigs whose organs look more
“human” to our immune system
Livestock Improvement
●Agricultural researchers realize transgenic
technology can produce larger, leaner,
more disease resistant livestock
●Very expensive to do this
●Concern about safety of meat or dairy from
transgenic animals
Making a transgenic animal
●The transgene which contains the DNA the
scientist wants to transfer is constructed
●The transgene is introduced into a singlecell embryo
●The embryo is transferred to a surrogate
mother of the same strain
Making of a transgenic animal
Making a transgenic animal
●success rate of introducing transgenes into
embryos is low
●success rate decreases in mammals
Care of Transgenic Animals
●animals do not require any special care
●some are susceptible to disease
Government’s role
●US Patent and Trademark Offices issues
patents for transgenic animals
●The only government policy is in the NIH
Guidelines for Research Involving
Recombinant DNA Molecules
Transgenic Animals-Glo Fish
Transgenic Animals
Opposed to Transgenics
In favor of Transgenics
believe the animals threaten
our environment, health, and
safety
powerful way to study
numerous diseases
most companies do not want
to purchase genetically
modified produce
vital substances needed may
soon be available
animal welfare groups feel
gene manipulation will lead to
increased animal suffering
organs for transplants
feel scientists are “playing
God” and will move to human
cloning
used to treat diseases
Future of Transgenic Animals
●Current research limited to transferring a
small amount of genes at a time
●much work remains to be done to fine tune
the techniques used
●possible effects of foreign DNA remains a
concern
●transgenic animal models is an established
part of biomedical research
Videos
●http://www.scientificamerican.com/podc
●
ast/episode/the-wonderful-world-oftransgenic-a-09-07-02/
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/tlc/288
29-understanding-the-power-of-genesvideo.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/ste
m-cell-poll.html
●
The end