Production of transgenic mice through sperm-mediated gene transfer using magnetic nano-carriers

Current methods of transgenic animal production suffer from low efficiency, cumbersome operation, and high cost. Magnetic nanoparticles (MagNPs) have several characteristics, such as a high carrying efficiency, non-immunogenicity, and strong targeting inducible via magnetic fields, that make them well-suited for use in the generation of transgenic animals. In this study, we used magnetic nano-carriers combined with sperm-mediated gene transfer (SMGT) to generate transgenic mice that harbor the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene. Exogenous plasmid DNA loaded onto Fe3O4 MagNPs were first delivered into mouse sperm cells under a magnetic field. Transfected sperm cells were then incubated with oocytes to complete fertilization, and transgenic mice were successfully generated though embryo transplantation. We demonstrate that this method is exceedingly facile, fast, and cost-effective, with higher transfection efficiency than that of conventional liposome methods.