[An update on the development of transgenic animal technology]

The animal transgenic technology has increasingly turned mature over several decades and promoted the research of transgenic technology to a new developmental phase. In this review, various kinds of transgenic technologies, including somatic cell nuclear transfer, gene transfer mediated by transposon, gene knockout mediated by RNA interference, and zinc-finger nucleases-gene targeting technology, are summarized. Recently, the success of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), which has provided an alternative way to derive pluripotent stem cells of large animals, will extend the field of transgenic animal studies. Here, we summarized the latest trends on the basis of previous studies. In addition, the characteristics of different kinds of transgenic methods in detail are discussed.