Loading patent…
AssigneeSynageva BioPharma Corp.
InventorsMarie-Ceclie Van de Lavoir, Philip Albert Leighton
Estimating the term…
The present invention is long-term cultures of avian PGCs and techniques to produce germline chimeric and transgenic birds derived from prolonged PGC cultures. In some embodiments, these PGCs can be transfected with genetic constructs to modify the DNA of the PGC, specifically to introduce a transgene encoding an exogenous protein. When combined with a host avian embryo by known procedures, those modified PGCs are transmitted through the germline to yield transgenic offspring. These germline chimeric birds do not have substantial contributions of PGC-derived phenotypes in somatic cells or tissues. This invention includes compositions comprising long-term cultures of PGCs that can be genetically modified by gene targeting, that can accept large amounts of foreign DNA and that contribute to the germline of recipient embryos.
A culture comprising at least 1×105 clonal chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) whose genomes stably comprise an exogenous DNA sequence flanked by at least one insulator, wherein the cultured PGCs are derived from whole blood of a stage 12-17 chicken embryo, transfected with the exogenous DNA, taken from a colony of PGCs derived from a single transfected PGC, and maintained in vitro for at least 19 days, wherein the cultured PGCs colonize in the germline of a recipient embryo, and wherein the cultured PGCs express the chicken vasa homologue (CVH).
(canceled)
(canceled)
A transgenic chicken:
(canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.