Human/Animal Transgenics: When is a Mouse Not a Mouse?
Transgenic animals are animals which have had DNA from another species inserted into their genome. The goal of transgenics is to produce a hybrid animal that is able to pass on genetic material from two different species to the next generation. Inserting genes from one species into another species to create a transgenic animal is considered the most powerful technology for modeling disease processes and for determining the mechanisms by which genes are regulated during development. Transgenic animals, also called “bioreactors,” allow the effects of various factors on a gene’s function to be tested in a whole animal rather than merely in a test tube or cell. By inserting human DNA into an animal such as a mouse, medical researchers are provided with important information which may help them in their efforts to conquer human disease. Transgenic technology has undergone explosive growth in the last decade. A 1989 search of the NIH Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects (
