(upbeat music)
My name is Amy Desaulniers
and my job is to put transgenic embryos
into the reproductive tract of female pigs.
And then we raise those pigs to sell to producers.
First we put the transgenic embryos
into the female reproductive tract.
And then piglets are born
and we raise those piglets up to adulthood.
We confirm that they are transgenic with a DNA test
and we evaluate the function of the a transgene
and then we make crosses
to produce a family of transgenic pigs
that we can sell at market.
We get the embryos with the transgene from other scientists
who inserted the transgene.
We put the transgenic embryos
into the female pigs during surgery.
And we put about 30 transgenic embryos
into the reproductive tract of females
because they ovulate about 20 eggs.
And they have a litter size of about 15,
so we want to put enough embryos in there
to get a normal litter size.
Once we put the transgenic embryos into the female
it takes about 114 days for piglets to be born.
Once the mom gives birth to a transgenic piglet
we perform a DNA test to confirm that they're transgenic
and then we raise them to adulthood,
which is about 180 days in females and 300 days in males.
With our first transgenic adults
we first make sure they're healthy
and then we evaluate the function of the transgene.
To evaluate the function of the transgene
we compare the heterozygote transgenic pigs
with their litter mate controls.
First we look at their pedigrees
and then we also use our knowledge of Punnett squares
to determine what pigs to cross
if we want to get heterozygote or homozygote piglets.
And if the inheritance pattern was predictable
using a Punnett square,
then we know we've made the right pigs.
The pigs for market will be homozygous
because they have more dramatic phenotype.
Since they're homozygous
they produce more of the transgene
so that's why we have a more dramatic phenotype.
A sow can have approximately 2.5 litters a year
and that equates to about fifteen piglets per litter
so she can have around 30 piglets a year.
We take about three years of breeding
to get an acceptable group of transgenic pigs
that we could market.
(upbeat music)