Abstract
In ovo electroporation enables transfection of non-viral plasmid DNA and/or morpholinos to fluorescently label and/or perturb gene function in cells of interest. However, targeted electroporation into specific subregions of the embryo can be challenging due to placement and size limitations of the electrodes. Here we describe the basic techniques for in ovo electroporation in the chick embryo and suggest parameters to electroporate cells within different target tissues that with some modifications may be applicable to a wide range of developmental stages and other embryo model organisms.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Muramatsu T, Mizutani Y, Ohmori Y, Okumura J (1997) Comparison of three nonviral transfection methods for foreign gene expression in early chicken embryos in ovo. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 230(2):376–380
Momose T, Tonegawa A, Takeuchi J, Ogawa H, Umesono K, Yasuda K (1999) Efficient targeting of gene expression in chick embryos by microelectroporation. Develop Growth Differ 41(3):335–344
Itasaki N, Bel-Vialar S, Krumlauf R (1999) 'Shocking' developments in chick embryology: electroporation and in ovo gene expression. Nat Cell Biol 1(8):E203–E207. https://doi.org/10.1038/70231
Swartz M, Eberhart J, Mastick GS, Krull CE (2001) Sparking new frontiers: using in vivo electroporation for genetic manipulations. Dev Biol 233(1):13–21. https://doi.org/10.1006/dbio.2001.0181
Nakamura H, Katahira T, Sato T, Watanabe Y, Funahashi J (2004) Gain- and loss-of-function in chick embryos by electroporation. Mech Dev 121(9):1137–1143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mod.2004.05.013
Kulesa PM, Teddy JM, Smith M, Alexander R, Cooper CH, Lansford R, McLennan R (2010) Multispectral fingerprinting for improved in vivo cell dynamics analysis. BMC Dev Biol 10:101. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-213X-10-101
Scaal M, Gros J, Lesbros C, Marcelle C (2004) In ovo electroporation of avian somites. Dev Dyn 229(3):643–650. https://doi.org/10.1002/dvdy.10433
Sato Y, Kasai T, Nakagawa S, Tanabe K, Watanabe T, Kawakami K, Takahashi Y (2007) Stable integration and conditional expression of electroporated transgenes in chicken embryos. Dev Biol 305(2):616–624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2007.01.043
Watanabe T, Saito D, Tanabe K, Suetsugu R, Nakaya Y, Nakagawa S, Takahashi Y (2007) Tet-on inducible system combined with in ovo electroporation dissects multiple roles of genes in somitogenesis of chicken embryos. Dev Biol 305(2):625–636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2007.01.042
Chen YX, Krull CE (2008) Using in ovo electroporation to transfect cells in avian somites. CSH Protoc 2008. https://doi.org/10.1101/pdb.prot4924
Linn SA, Krull CE (2008) Transfecting avian motor neurons and their axons using in ovo electroporation. CSH Protoc 2008. https://doi.org/10.1101/pdb.prot4926
Farley EK, Gale E, Chambers D, Li M (2011) Effects of in ovo electroporation on endogenous gene expression: genome-wide analysis. Neural Dev 6:17. https://doi.org/10.1186/1749-8104-6-17
Simkin JE, Zhang D, Ighaniyan S, Newgreen DF (2014) Parameters affecting efficiency of in ovo electroporation of the avian neural tube and crest. Dev Dyn 243(11):1440–1447. https://doi.org/10.1002/dvdy.24163
Taneyhill LA, Coles EG, Bronner-Fraser M (2007) Snail2 directly represses cadherin6B during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions of the neural crest. Development 134(8):1481–1490. https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.02834
Wagner G, Peradziryi H, Wehner P, Borchers A (2010) PlexinA1 interacts with PTK7 and is required for neural crest migration. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 402(2):402–407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2010.10.044
Zanin JP, Battiato NL, Rovasio RA (2013) Neurotrophic factor NT-3 displays a non-canonical cell guidance signaling function for cephalic neural crest cells. Eur J Cell Biol 92(8–9):264–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejcb.2013.10.006
Betancur P, Simoes-Costa M, Sauka-Spengler T, Bronner ME (2014) Expression and function of transcription factor cMyb during cranial neural crest development. Mech Dev 132:38–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mod.2014.01.005
Vermillion KL, Lidberg KA, Gammill LS (2014) Expression of actin-binding proteins and requirement for actin-depolymerizing factor in chick neural crest cells. Dev Dyn 243(5):730–738
Khatri SB, Edlund RK, Groves AK (2014) Foxi3 is necessary for the induction of the chick otic placode in response to FGF signaling. Dev Biol 391(2):158–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.04.014
McLennan R, Schumacher LJ, Morrison JA, Teddy JM, Ridenour DA, Box AC, Semerad CL, Li H, McDowell W, Kay D, Maini PK, Baker RE, Kulesa PM (2015) VEGF signals induce trailblazer cell identity that drives neural crest migration. Dev Biol 407(1):12–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2015.08.011
Mende M, Christophorou NA, Streit A (2008) Specific and effective gene knock-down in early chick embryos using morpholinos but not pRFPRNAi vectors. Mech Dev 125(11–12):947–962. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mod.2008.08.005
Voiculescu O, Papanayotou C, Stern CD (2008) Spatially and temporally controlled electroporation of early chick embryos. Nat Protoc 3(3):419–426. https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2008.10
Wu CY, Taneyhill LA (2012) Annexin a6 modulates chick cranial neural crest cell emigration. PLoS One 7(9):e44903. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0044903
Hamburger V, Hamilton HL (1951) A series of normal stages in the development of the chick embryo. J Morphol 88(1):49–92
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
McLennan, R., Kulesa, P.M. (2019). In Ovo Electroporation of Plasmid DNA and Morpholinos into Specific Tissues During Early Embryogenesis. In: Schwarz, Q., Wiszniak, S. (eds) Neural Crest Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1976. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9412-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9412-0_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9411-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9412-0
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols