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Production of transgenic dairy goat expressing human α-lactalbumin by somatic cell nuclear transfer

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Abstract

Production of human α-lactalbumin (hα-LA) transgenic cloned dairy goats has great potential in improving the nutritional value and perhaps increasing the yield of dairy goat milk. Here, a mammary-specific expression vector 5A, harboring goat β-lactoglobulin (βLG) promoter, the hα-LA gene, neor and EGFP dual markers, was constructed. Then, it was effectively transfected into goat mammary epithelial cells (GMECs) and the expression of hα-LA was investigated. Both the hα-LA transcript and protein were detected in the transfected GMECs after the induction of hormonal signals. In addition, the 5A vector was introduced into dairy goat fetal fibroblasts (transfection efficiency ≈60–70 %) to prepare competent transgenic donor cells. A total of 121 transgenic fibroblast clones were isolated by 96-well cell culture plates and screened with nested-PCR amplification and EGFP fluorescence. After being frozen for 8 months, the transgenic cells still showed high viabilities, verifying their ability as donor cells. Dairy goat cloned embryos were produced from these hα-LA transgenic donor cells by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), and the rates of fusion, cleavage, and the development to blastocyst stages were 81.8, 84.4, and 20.0 %, respectively. A total of 726 reconstructed embryos derived from the transgenic cells were transferred to 74 recipients and pregnancy was confirmed at 90 days in 12 goats. Of six female kids born, two carried hα-LA and the hα-LA protein was detected in their milk. This study provides an effective system to prepare SCNT donor cells and transgenic animals for human recombinant proteins.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Major Special Project on New Varieties Cultivation for Transgenic Organisms (Project No. 2009ZX08008-009B) and Jiangsu Agriculture Science and Technology Innovation Fund (Project No. CX (11)4047).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210014, China

    Xiujing Feng, Shaoxian Cao, Huili Wang, Chunhua Meng, Jingxin Li, Jin Jiang, Yong Qian, Lei Su, Qiang He & Qingxiao Zhang

  2. College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210095, China

    Xiujing Feng, Jingxin Li, Jin Jiang, Lei Su & Qingxiao Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Reproduction, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, China

    Shaoxian Cao, Huili Wang, Chunhua Meng & Yong Qian

  4. State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and MOE Key Laboratory of Model Animal for Disease Study, Model Animal Research Center, Nanjing Biomedical Research Institute, Nanjing university, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210093, China

    Xiujing Feng

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  1. Xiujing Feng
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Correspondence to Shaoxian Cao.

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Feng, X., Cao, S., Wang, H. et al. Production of transgenic dairy goat expressing human α-lactalbumin by somatic cell nuclear transfer. Transgenic Res 24, 73–85 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-014-9818-8

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