Abstract
The present experiments were designed to examine whether exogenous DNA injected into the germinal crescent region (GCR) of early stage of developing embryos, which is considered to be the main place from which PGCs originate, can be transferred to recipient chicken embryos. In this experiment, Miw Z (DNA) dissolved in the transfection reagent (TR: Boehringer, Germany) was introduced into the GCR of donor embryos at stage 3-5 or 9-11, followed by continued incubation until the stage 13-15 of embryonic development. The PGCs collected from the embryonic blood vessels were examined for the incorporation of the injected DNA into the PGCs by the methods of X-gal staining and PCR analysis. As the results, the foreign DNA was successfully incorporated into the PGCS, leading to their transfer to the gonadal tissues. The present results, therefore, suggest that the early stage (3-5 or 9-11) of chicken embryonic development would be more successful than stage 13-15 in transferring exogenous genes to the recipient embryos, leading to the possibility of producing transgenic chicken medianting the PGCS.