Ic livestock, such as recombinant human antithrombin (ATrynH) and recombinant human C1 esterase inhibitor (RuconestH), have been approved by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are currently on the market (http://www.gtc-bio.com/; http:// www.pharming.com/). Because the production and use of transgenic livestock are likely to become more widespread, novel approaches to improve the molecular characterization of transgenes in these animals would have considerable economic and commercial benefits. Commonly used transgenic techniques such as pronuclear injection, retroviral infection and nuclear transfer result in the random integration of multiple copies of the transgenes in the host genome [1]. The identification of integration sites is often unnecessary for a functional analysis of the transgene. Nevertheless, the random insertion of multiple copies can have marked effects, such as inactivation of an endogenous gene upon transgene insertion, different levels of transgene expression and evensilencing of the transgene when inserted into a heterochromatic region which are typically greatly influenced by the chromosome position effects [2?]. The potential for insertional mutagenesis of endogenous genes makes identifying the location and number of the transgenes critical for evaluating the relevance of the transgene integration site to the specific phenotype. In addition, the increasing number of transgenic livestock and, consequently, the large amount of untargeted genetic material potentially harboring transgenes highlight the need for a powerful and reliable technique to perform transgene integration site mapping to satisfy biosafety requirements. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based chromosome-walking techniques, including inverse PCR [6], ligation-mediated PCR [7,8] and specific-primer PCR [9,10], are the major methods that are currently used to precisely identify transgene flanking sequences. However, these techniques often produce nonspecific amplification products and are therefore incapable of reliably assessing multiple integration events [11]. Improved techniques, such as fusion primer and nested integrated PCR, have been developed to address this problem; nevertheless, only the locations of chromosomal integration sites that contain relatively few tandem copies of the transgene can be identified [12,13]. Transgenes can often be of considerable size (e.g., .100 kb), which can make it difficult to determine whether the integratedReliable Method for Transgene Identificationsequence is complete. In addition, multiple copies of the transgene (or incomplete sections of the transgene) may be integrated into different genomic locations, increasing the challenge of detecting these copies. Previously, 1527786 we generated transgenic cloned MedChemExpress AN-3199 cattle harboring a 150-kb bacterial artificial chromosomal (BAC) that specifically expresses human lactoferrin (hLF) in 11967625 milk at a high expression level of 3.4 g/L [14]. Several KDM5A-IN-1 studies indicate that hLF is involved in iron absorption and broad-spectrum primary defense, which suggests that hLF may have vital therapeutic applications [15,16]. To assess the biosafety of the hLF transgene for use in commercial applications, an evaluation of the position and copy numbers of the hLF transgene is critical (http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ AnimalVeterinary/GuidanceComplianceEnforcement/ GuidanceforIndustry/UCM113903.pdf). Initial attempts to identify.Ic livestock, such as recombinant human antithrombin (ATrynH) and recombinant human C1 esterase inhibitor (RuconestH), have been approved by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are currently on the market (http://www.gtc-bio.com/; http:// www.pharming.com/). Because the production and use of transgenic livestock are likely to become more widespread, novel approaches to improve the molecular characterization of transgenes in these animals would have considerable economic and commercial benefits. Commonly used transgenic techniques such as pronuclear injection, retroviral infection and nuclear transfer result in the random integration of multiple copies of the transgenes in the host genome [1]. The identification of integration sites is often unnecessary for a functional analysis of the transgene. Nevertheless, the random insertion of multiple copies can have marked effects, such as inactivation of an endogenous gene upon transgene insertion, different levels of transgene expression and evensilencing of the transgene when inserted into a heterochromatic region which are typically greatly influenced by the chromosome position effects [2?]. The potential for insertional mutagenesis of endogenous genes makes identifying the location and number of the transgenes critical for evaluating the relevance of the transgene integration site to the specific phenotype. In addition, the increasing number of transgenic livestock and, consequently, the large amount of untargeted genetic material potentially harboring transgenes highlight the need for a powerful and reliable technique to perform transgene integration site mapping to satisfy biosafety requirements. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based chromosome-walking techniques, including inverse PCR [6], ligation-mediated PCR [7,8] and specific-primer PCR [9,10], are the major methods that are currently used to precisely identify transgene flanking sequences. However, these techniques often produce nonspecific amplification products and are therefore incapable of reliably assessing multiple integration events [11]. Improved techniques, such as fusion primer and nested integrated PCR, have been developed to address this problem; nevertheless, only the locations of chromosomal integration sites that contain relatively few tandem copies of the transgene can be identified [12,13]. Transgenes can often be of considerable size (e.g., .100 kb), which can make it difficult to determine whether the integratedReliable Method for Transgene Identificationsequence is complete. In addition, multiple copies of the transgene (or incomplete sections of the transgene) may be integrated into different genomic locations, increasing the challenge of detecting these copies. Previously, 1527786 we generated transgenic cloned cattle harboring a 150-kb bacterial artificial chromosomal (BAC) that specifically expresses human lactoferrin (hLF) in 11967625 milk at a high expression level of 3.4 g/L [14]. Several studies indicate that hLF is involved in iron absorption and broad-spectrum primary defense, which suggests that hLF may have vital therapeutic applications [15,16]. To assess the biosafety of the hLF transgene for use in commercial applications, an evaluation of the position and copy numbers of the hLF transgene is critical (http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ AnimalVeterinary/GuidanceComplianceEnforcement/ GuidanceforIndustry/UCM113903.pdf). Initial attempts to identify.
