Production of Chimeric Chickens

Somatic and germline chimeric chickens are very useful for studying various biological functions of cells, such as immune rejection of donor cells in recipient embryos and chickens, or analyzing the developmental fate of transferred donor cells into recipients. Production of germline chimeric chickens makes it possible to manipulate germline cells in vitro (e.g., DNA transfer or cryopreservation), and the manipulated germline cells can allow viable offspring by germline chimeric chickens. It is expected that endangered avian species can also proliferate via interspecific germline chimeric chickens.