GENE DELIVERY INTO THE CHICKEN EMBRYO BY USING REPLICATION-COMPETENT RETROVIRAL VECTORS

［Review Article］

GENE DELIVERY INTO THE CHICKEN EMBRYO BY USING
REPLICATION-COMPETENT RETROVIRAL VECTORS

NOBORU SATO

Department of Anatomy, Fukushima Medical University
School of Medicine, Fukushima

(Received June 22, 2004, accepted October 7, 2004)

Abstract: Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)-derived retroviral vectors have allowed for efficient gene transfer into the chicken embryo which is a classical model for studying vertebrate development.　Current evidence reveals that this method can be used for regionally restricted expression, inducible expression, and for interfering with endogenous gene function, suggesting that gain-of-function and loss-of-function strategies for specific genes can be achieved spatially and temporally in the avian embryo.　Thus, retroviral-mediated gene transfer into the chicken embryo coupled with a wide variety of strategies is now an important tool to address specific biological questions in the vertebrate.

Key words: replication-competent retroviral vector, chicken embryo, promoter, inducible gene expression, doxycycline

佐藤　昇

Correspondence to: Noboru Sato, Department of Anatomy, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima City 960-1295, Japan.
E-mail: nsato@fmu.ac.jp