Sigma Life Science creates first knock-in rats using ZFN
Enables creation of more sophisticated models of human disease
Sigma Life Science, the biological products and services business of Sigma-Aldrich, has used its proprietary CompoZr Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) technology to generate ‘knock-in’ rats in which foreign genes have been inserted into the rat genome in a precisely targeted manner. The US firm says this is a major step forward in the creation of a transgenic animal, which may serve as a more predictive model of human disease.
In a proof of concept study by researchers at SAGE Labs, a copy of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) was inserted into the Mdr1a gene of a rat, thus creating a creature that glows under special lighting conditions.
The firm says the study, which has recently been accepted for publication1, opens the doors to a variety of new applications including the tagging of genes with reporters such as GFP to measure gene expression patterns and replacement of rat genes with humanised versions.
Although rats have long been the model organism of choice for disease research, scientists have been forced to use mouse models for over a quarter of a century, due to their amenability to genetic manipulation. The creation of rats with gene deletions, commonly called 'knock-outs', using ZFN technology was first published in Science magazine in 2009 and Sigma says the ability to create rats with new genes introduced in their genome represents a leap forward in ZFN technology, allowing sophisticated genetic engineering of higher level organisms and providing scientists with a choice of model organisms that can be used to investigate different diseases.
SAGE Labs will use Sigma’s ZFN technology, combined with its SAGEspeed model creation process, to produce a number of off-the-shelf rat models for use in the study of human diseases, as well as custom models for customers.
‘We have invested time and resources in developing the CompoZr and SAGEspeed platforms to help realise the enormous potential of this technology, enabling precise manipulation of the genome of living organisms,’ said Edward Weinstein, director of SAGE Labs at Sigma Life Science.
‘This exciting advance is another example of how Sigma Life Science is pushing the limits of technology, establishing what we believe will become the new standard for the creation of genetically engineered research animals.’
1. Cui, X. (2010). Targeted integration in rat and mouse embryos with zinc finger nucleases. Nature Biotech