Efficient production of transgenic chickens using self-inactive HIV-based lentiviral vectors

We demonstrated the simple and effective production of transgenic chickens,in which the enhanced green fluorescence protein(EGFP)was expressed by using third-generation self-inactive HIV-based lentiviral vectors.In our experiments,lentiviruses were injected into 204 fertilized eggs,from which 30(15%)chickens were hatched.The exogenous gene was detected in the genomes of 16 out of 30(53%)chickens.The green fluorescence signal was observed directly in various body parts,and was particularly significant in the testes.The transgenes were also found in the offspring of these chickens.The results indicate that HIV-based lentiviral vectors can be used to generate transgenic birds economically and effectively.