2015

Potential impacts on the environment from the escape or release of genetically engineered organisms was the committee's greatest science-based concerns associated with animal biotechnology, in large part due to the uncertainty inherent in identifying environmental problems early on and the difficulty of remediation once a problem has been identified. The intent of this chapter is to identify the risks to the environment posed by GE animals, prioritize those risks, and explain the criteria used for selecting them.

The effects of genetic engineering on animal health and welfare are of significant public concern (Mench, 1999). Ideas about animal welfare are shaped by cultural attitudes toward animals (Burghart and Herzog, 1989), and animal welfare has proven difficult to assess because it is so multifaceted and involves ethical judgments (Mason and Mendl, 1993; Fraser, 1999).

The executive branch formally announced its biotechnology policy on June 26, 1986, in the form of the Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology (OSTP 1986), as reviewed previously and described in more detail in this article. The three lead agencies with responsibility for implementation of the policy were the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The cornea on the front surface of the eye is our window to the world, hence maintenance of corneal tissue transparency is essential for vision. The integrity and functionality of the outermost corneal layer, the epithelium, plays a key role in refraction of light on to the retina at the back of the eye. Like other epithelia, the epithelium of the cornea is maintained by stem cells.

The kidneys play a critical homeostatic role in the regulation of body fluid composition and excretion of waste products. Here I review our understanding of how the three different vertebrate kidney types (pronephros, mesonephros, and metanephros) arise during mouse development with a more comprehensive focus on the molecular regulation of metanephros formation.

A little over 50 years ago, Sydney Brenner had the foresight to develop the nematode (round worm) Caenorhabditis elegans as a genetic model for understanding questions of developmental biology and neurobiology. Over time, research on C. elegans has expanded to explore a wealth of diverse areas in modern biology including studies of the basic functions and interactions of eukaryotic cells, host-parasite interactions, and evolution. C. elegans has also become an important organism in which to study processes that go awry in human diseases.

Although C. elegans is primarily touted for its facile genetics, there has been a burgeoning interest in studying cell biological processes in this organism.

This article discusses the maintenance of C. elegans in the laboratory. Topics include the acquisition of worm strains from the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (CGC), methods of culture and transfer, decontamination of stocks, synchronizing and staging cultures, and procedures for freezing worms for long-term storage and for recovering them from the frozen state.

Genome editing is used to make targeted modifications to the genome of eukaryotic cells. There are many potential applications of genome editing in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) including the generation of knockout and reporter cell lines. This protocol describes a system for efficient genome editing in hPSCs using engineered transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) technology.

Prolonged culture of pluripotent and multipotent stem cells exposes the cells to strong selection pressures, often resulting in genomic alterations. Any genetic manipulation of the cells may further jeopardize their genomic stability. Genomic aberrations affect the differentiation capacity of stem cells, their stem cell identity and their tumorigenicity, and should thus be routinely evaluated for their proper use in basic research and in clinical trials.