The use of nuclear transfer to produce transgenic pigs

Manipulation of the pig genome has the potential to improve pig production and offers powerful biomedical applications. Genetic manipulation of mammals has been possible for over two decades, but the technology available has proven both difficult and inefficient. The development of new techniques to enhance efficiency and overcome the complications of random insertion is of importance. Nuclear transfer combined with homologous recombination provides a possible solution: precise genetic modifications in the pig genome may be induced via homologous recombination, and viable offspring can be produced by nuclear transfer using cultured transfected cell lines. The technique is still ineffective, but it is believed to have immense potential. One area that would benefit from the technology is that of xenotransplantation: transgenic pigs are expected to be available as organ donors in the foreseeable future.