Production of chicken chimeras by fusing blastodermal cells with electroporation.

AIM: To establish techniques for producing somatic and germline chimeric chicken by transferring blastodermal cells fused with electroporation. METHODS: Stage-X blastodermal cells isolated from freshly laid fertile unincubated white Leghorn and Rhode Island red chicken eggs were fused with electroporation. The treated cell suspension was transferred to the recovery medium (DMEM containing 10% FBS) and was injected into the subgerminal cavity of recipient unincubated embryos (stage X). RESULTS: Of 177 recipient embryos injected with the fusing blastodermal cells, 6 (3.4%) survived to hatching. Somatic chimerism was examined in the melanocyte of the feather. The presence of feathers originating from the donor cell was observed in 1 bird (16.7%) out of the 6 hatched birds. After 21 days of incubation two birds out of five embryos were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for W-chromosome-specific DNA for each tissue. One bird possessed W-chromosome-specific DNA in the stomach, and the other exhibited the same DNA in the left and right gonads and other tissues, but not the stomach. CONCLUSION: Recipient embryo having electrofused blastodermal cells yields somatic and germline chimeric chickens more successfully.