REVIEW ON TRANSGENIC TECHNOLOGY IN LIVESTOCK: CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE HORIZONS

Abstract

Transgenic technologies are one of the most promising arenas in the field of biotechnology. These techniques employ genetic engineering techniques to insert foreign genes of interest into genome of an individual. These foreign genes are inherited and expressed by the recipient‟s offspring. Two things determine the success of any transgenic technique namely the transport of foreign piece of DNA across the recipient‟s cell membrane and delivery of that DNA across the nuclear membrane gaining access to the chromosomes of the recipient. Many transgenic techniques are employed for genetic manipulation like microinjection, somatic cell nuclear transfer, chemical methods, restriction enzyme mediated gene transfer, retrovirus mediated gene transfer as well as embryonic stem cell and sperm mediated DNA transfer etc. The transgenic animals can be employed in drug discovery, disease research and xenotransplantation etc. This review summarizes various transgenic techniques, applications and future prospects of the transgenic technology.