Transgenic rabbits as bioreactors for the production of human growth hormone.
Gene farming is one of the most promising areas in modern biotechnology. To assay the potential usefulness of transgenic rabbits as bioreactors, one call embryos were microinjected with a chimeric gene comprising 5' sequences from mouse whey acidic protein gene (mWAP) linked to the human growth hormone (hGH) gene. Transgenic animals were obtained and the presence of the foreign protein was detected in the milk and serum of these animals at levels of up to 50 micrograms ml-1 and 0.6 ng ml-1, respectively. Founder transgenics were able to transmit the microinjected gene to the first filial generation in a Mendelian fashion. These results showed that transgenic rabbits could constitute a suitable system for the rapid production of recombinant proteins in the milk of lactating females.
Limonta
J M
JM
Mammalian Cell Genetics Division, Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología, Havana, Cuba.
Castro
F O
FO
Martínez
R
R
Puentes
P
P
Ramos
B
B
Aguilar
A
A
Lleonart
R L
RL
de la Fuente
J
J
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001483:Base Sequence; D001709:Biotechnology; D002678:Chimera / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007774:Lactation; D008297:Male; D008892:Milk / Q000378:metabolism; D008894:Milk Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011817:Rabbits; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics
D017931:DNA Primers; D008894:Milk Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C024471:whey acidic proteins; D013006:Growth Hormone