Testis mediated gene transfer: In vitro transfection in goat testis by electroporation

• Organ culture of seminiferous tubules of goat testis was done.
• In vitro transfection of goat testis was done by electroporation.
• EGFP expression was observed in seminiferous tubules on different days.
• This study provides baseline data for carrying out in vivo studies.

Testis mediated gene transfer (TMGT) is a potential tool for making transgenic mice having more than 90% success rate. However, this method needs further standardization before it can be adapted in other species including livestock. In order to standardize the TMGT in goat, buck testes (n = 20) collected from the slaughter house were injected with a vector driving green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression under a cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. Then, the testes were subjected to electroporation with predetermined voltage, pulse length, pulse interval and number of pulses. Seminiferous tubules were isolated from the electroporated testis and cultured in-vitro. The expression was checked at regular intervals. Green fluorescence was observed on different days in different samples. It suggests transient integration of the plasmid into the seminiferous tubules. This in-vitro transfection of seminiferous tubule using electroporation will provide valuable baseline information.