Genetic modification technologies can be used for modifying animal genome to express exogenous genes or affect the function of endogenous genes. In animal breeding, genetic modification technologies allow the rapid generation of germplasms with beneficial traits. It includes traditional genetic modification, virus or sperm carrier-mediated genetic modification and nuclease-mediated genome editing, especially the CRISPR/Cas9, one of the artificial nuclease genome editing technologies, have been applied in genome editing in many domestic animals including sheep (Ovis aries). Compared with conventional strategies used for animal breeding, there is great value for sheep breeding improvement by using genome editing technology, which is more effective and timesaving. In this review, we summarize the approaches of genetic modification in sheep and discuss the possibility of molecular design and breeding of sheep by genome editing technologies. We also identify the potential bottlenecks and challenges of these technologies in sheep breeding.
利用遗传修饰技术可以使动物在遗传水平发生改变,实现在个体内表达外源基因或对其内源基因的功能造成影响。在动物育种中,可以利用遗传修饰技术在分子水平进行设计并实现品种的快速改良。从传统的遗传修饰技术、病毒载体、精子载体等介导的遗传修饰技术到新型人工核酸酶介导的基因编辑技术,尤其是CRISPR/Cas9为代表的人工核酸酶的运用使得基因编辑动物的制备变得更加高效快捷,并迅速在多个物种中得到应用。这些方法也已经拓展到了绵羊(Ovis aries)遗传育种领域。利用遗传修饰技术在绵羊中进行分子育种比传统的育种方式具有更大的优势,可以使用多种策略直接对性状进行快速改良,并且可以加快育种进程。本文详细介绍了遗传修饰技术在绵羊中的研究历程,探讨了通过遗传修饰技术进行绵羊分子设计育种的可能性,并提出以上技术和方法在绵羊育种中面临的问题和挑战。.
Keywords: animal breeding; genetic modification; genome editing; sheep.