Illuminating the chicken model through genetic modification.

After decades of research investment, techniques for the robust and efficient modification of the chicken genome are now with us. The biology of the chicken has provided many challenges, as have the methods by which transgenes can be readily, stably and functionally integrated into the genome. Now that these obstacles have been surmounted and the chicken has been 'updated' to a cutting-edge modern model organism, a future as a central and versatile model in developmental biology beckons. In this review, we describe recent advances in genetic modification of the chicken and some of the many transgenic models developed for the elucidation of the mechanisms of embryogenesis.