Production of Transgenic Rabbits

Rabbits are important laboratory animals, widely used in many areas of biomedical research. Their usefulness has until recently been limited by the inability to generate precise genetic modifications, but this has now been achieved. Here we review the current state of rabbit transgenic science, discussing previous problems, advances, and the relative merits of different approaches. In a technical section we discuss relevant features of rabbit husbandry and reproductive physiology; protocols are provided for oocyte and embryo collection, embryo manipulation, culture, transfer into recipients, and analysis of offspring. Protocols and guidelines are described for three technologies, pronuclear microinjection (specifically transposon-mediated transgenesis), nuclear transfer using mesenchymal stem cells, and genome editing using zinc finger nucleases, TALENs, and RNA-guided endonucleases.