The advent of molecular biology and recombinant DNA technology brought new developments not only to agricultural, but also to medicine and the basic sciences.Molecular biology and genetic engineering technologias have not onlyaccelerated progress in science, but have also heightened the potential safety risks and ethical concerns associated with these products.Objectivessuch as these can only be dealt with by conscientious integation of scientific information with the ethical discussions.The use of recombinant DNA technology has and will continue to be used for the diagnosis of disease, gene therapy type strategies, as well as in forensic arenas.Dwespite many problems associated with, biotechnology will continue into a vibrant, healthy "adult".
There is a constant expectation for fast improvement of livestock production and human health care products. The advent of DNA recombinant technology and the possibility of gene transfer between organisms of distinct species, or even distinct phylogenic kingdoms, has opened a wide range of possibilities. Nowadays we can produce human insulin in bacteria or human coagulation factors in cattle milk. The recent advances in gene transfer, animal cloning, and assisted reproductive techniques have partly fulfilled the expectation in the field of livestock transgenesis. This paper reviews the recent advances and applications of transgenesis in livestock and their derivative products. At first, the state of art and the techniques that enhance the efficiency of livestock transgenesis are presented. The consequent reduction in the cost and time necessary to reach a final product has enabled the multiplication of transgenic prototypes around the world. We also analyze here some emerging applications of livestock transgenesis in the field of pharmacology, meat and dairy industry, xenotransplantation, and human disease modeling. Finally, some bioethical and commercial concerns raised by the transgenesis applications are discussed.
Post-transcriptional gene regulation guided by microRNAs has emerged as one of the major gene regulatory mechanisms in higher eukaryotes. microRNAs regulate gene translation through the recognition of complementary sequences between microRNAs and their target genes. Recent studies in livestock have revealed that many microRNAs are species- and tissue-specic, indicating that microRNAs play important roles in essential physiological processes in livestock, such as metabolism, and muscle and organ development. It is anticipated that many microRNAs will be linked to phenotypic differences or quantitative trait variations of livestock. The role of microRNA in developmental decisions that affect animal biology is of significant interest, yet the current literature on livestock models is limited. In this review, we summarize the current microRNA studies undertaken in livestock.
There is a constant expectation for fast improvement of livestock production and human health care products. The advent of DNA recombinant technology and the possibility of gene transfer between organisms of distinct species, or even distinct phylogenic kingdoms, has opened a wide range of possibilities. Nowadays we can produce human insulin in bacteria or human coagulation factors in cattle milk. The recent advances in gene transfer, animal cloning, and assisted reproductive techniques have partly fulfilled the expectation in the field of livestock transgenesis. This paper reviews the recent advances and applications of transgenesis in livestock and their derivative products. At first, the state of art and the techniques that enhance the efficiency of livestock transgenesis are presented. The consequent reduction in the cost and time necessary to reach a final product has enabled the multiplication of transgenic prototypes around the world. We also analyze here some emerging applications of livestock transgenesis in the field of pharmacology, meat and dairy industry, xenotransplantation, and human disease modeling. Finally, some bioethical and commercial concerns raised by the transgenesis applications are discussed.
Molecular approaches to genome analysis in livestock are reviewed by discussing the contribution of molecular genome analysis to the identification of the genetic variation underlying phenotypic variation (structural genome analysis) and to the definition of the trait-associated and environment-affected gene expression (functional genome analysis) as an important prerequisite to understanding the formation of a phenotype. Aspects of using mapped ?quantitative trait loci? (QTL) or gene variants as well as the identified trait-associated and environment-affected gene expression profile in livestock production are expounded.
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