Contributions of mammalian embryo transfer to developmental genetics

The process of transferring preimplantation embryos from the reproductive tract of one female to that of another, commonly referred to as embryo transfer (ET), has been used extensively for exploration of basic mechanisms of developmental genetics. ET has also permitted practical application of such basic knowledge to selective breeding of livestock and treatment of infertility. Contributions of mammalian embryo transfer are presented as they pertain to studies of heredity vs environment, gamete maturation, fertilization, differentiation, and genetic transformation. Future applications of embryo transfer to the study of developmental genetics are likely to include extensive use of microsurgical techniques on a wide variety of mammalian embryos.