Science / Medicine : Technique Helps DNA Bonding in Animals

What has been called “a powerful new means for introducing foreign DNA into animals” has been developed by Italian researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Technology in Rome. The new technique should make it much simpler and less expensive to produce transgenic animals (animals carrying a foreign gene), which are useful in medical research and have great potential value for agriculture.

Molecular biologist C. Spadafora and his colleagues reported last week in the journal Cell that they simply incubated mouse sperm cells in a solution containing the genes they desired to add to the animals. When mouse eggs were fertilized with this sperm, 30% of the mice obtained had the new genetic trait. The process had previously been carried out, with less success, by laboriously inoculating fertilized eggs with the foreign DNA.

In an editorial commentary, geneticist Max Birnstiel of the Research Institute of Molecular pathology in Vienna, wrote that, “if confirmed by others, this publication will be a cornerstone in biology, not only because the technique promises to do away with the laborious and technically demanding needle work . . . but also because of its potential usefulness for introducing commercially important features into animal species that have so far proved difficult to deal with.”