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Updated: May 9, 2026

Generation of Transgenic Rats using a Lentiviral Vector Approach
Published on: May 17, 2020
Generation of transgenic rats through induced pluripotent stem cells
Ming-Gui Jiang1, Tianda Li2, Chunjing Feng3
1State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, China; Key Laboratory of Translational Stem Cell Research, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Abstract:
The rat is an important animal model for human disease research. Using inhibitors of glycogen synthase kinase 3 and MAPK signaling pathways, rat embryonic stem cells and rat induced pluripotent stem cells (riPSCs) have been derived. However, unlike rat embryonic stem cells, germ line competent riPSCs have only been derived from Wistar rats at low efficiency. Here, we found that an optimized induction medium containing knock-out serum replacement and vitamin C improved the rate and efficiency of riPSCs generation from Dark Agouti rat fibroblasts and Sertoli cells. riPSCs maintained an undifferentiated status for >30 passages and could differentiate into various cells types including germ cells when injected into rat blastocysts. Moreover, transgenic riPSCs could be generated through the PiggyBac transposon, which could be used to generate transgenic rats through germ line transmission. riPSCs can be used as a novel tool in genetic and genomic studies of the rat.
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