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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 580-600.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.21-087

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Application of genetic modification technologies in molecular design breeding of sheep

Haitao Wang1,2(), Tingting Li3, Xun Huang1,2, Runlin Ma1,2,4(), Qiuyue Liu1()   

  1. 1. Innovation Academy for Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    2. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    3. Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China;
    4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2021-03-08 Revised:2021-04-14 Online:2021-06-20 Published:2021-04-30
  • Contact: Ma Runlin,Liu Qiuyue E-mail:wanght@genetics.ac.cn;rlma@ucas.ac.cn;qyliu@genetics.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences No(XDA24030205)

Abstract:

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.

Key words: sheep, genetic modification, genome editing, animal breeding