LIPOSOME MEDIATED GENE-TRANSFER VIA SPERMATOZOA INTO AVIAN EGG CELLS

Liposomes were prepared in the presence of plasmid DNA and allowed to react with spermatozoa from roosters prior to artificial insemination of 200 hens. Twelve days old fetuses developed from fertilized eggs were analysed by Southern blot technique to detect the transfer of the foreign sequences. About 26% of all fetuses examined displayed the banding pattern of the transferred plasmid. The results indicate that the sequences are not chromosomally integrated but are present in episomic form. The method described here is easy to handle so that it may become an appropriate means to establish large numbers of transgenic animals.