Ballistic transfection of avian primordial germ cell in ovo

In the fowl the primordial germ cells accumulate in the germinal crescent to the anterior of the two-day embryo. A simple ballistic device has been used to fire tungsten particles (mean diameter 1.5 microns) into this region. By coating these projectiles with vector DNA it is possible to transfect these cells. Hatchlings produced by this technique were raised to sexual maturity and shown to contain the foreign DNA in their sperm. G1 offspring containing this DNA were also produced in roughly 20% of these cockerels. In the majority of cases the vector DNA disappeared from the G1 generation as they matured suggesting that in these cases it had been transmitted episomally.