Generating Transgenic Animal Models: Recent Technological Advancements

Since the generation of the first transgenic animal by Gordan and Ruddle, several methods and procedures have been developed for the manipulation of the genome. This chapter highlights several technical advancements in animal transgenesis during the last few decades that enabled us to annotate every gene with its specific function. The various transgenic techniques such as pronuclear microinjection, embryonic stem cell-mediated gene targeting, somatic cell nuclear transfer, retrovirus gene transfer, sperm- and testicular-mediated gene transfer, Cre-lox mediated gene targeting, RNAi-mediated gene targeting, and CRISPR-Cas9-mediated gene editing along with their refinements, improvements, limitations, and applications for biomedical research are described. This chapter outlines the state-of-the-art animal transgenesis, thereby offering various technological opportunities in the field of biomedical research.