Advanced Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Care

Genetic Modified Animals

•       The process of genetically modifying an animal usually starts with combining certain fragments of DNA together in a laboratory, known as recombinant DNA. Then it is put into the animal which can pass on the recombinant DNA to the offspring. These animals contain an additional protein from the constructed DNA needed to create the drug. Many animals are being used to produce pharmaceutical drugs, mainly milk and egg producing animals such as chicken, goats, and cows. The common way to genetically modify animals is a certain process performed in the laboratory

1. The gene of interest is isolated on a strand of DNA
2. DNA is cut at specific points by restriction enzymes. The enzymes recognize certain sequences of bases on the DNA strand and cut where those sequences appear.
3. The cut DNA joins with a vector, which may be a virus or part of a bacterial cell called a plasmid. The vector carries the gene of interest into the organism that will produce the protein.
4. Transformation occurs when the gene carried by the vector is incorporated into the DNA of another organism where it initiates the action desired