ABSTRACT
The use of intracellular antibodies, termed intrabodies, in transgenic animal research and eventual development of pathogen resistant transgenic farm animals is one of the many exciting applications. The ability to inhibit viral growth in a host cell by providing an intrabody against a virally-encoded protein allows the further application of engineering genetic resistance to known host pathogens without inhibiting development or cellular function. The powerful molecular approach to the study of gene function has been used to determine the role of several genes in development, tumorigenesis, and metabolism. A system that could be used for temporal and spatial inhibition of gene function is the regulable expression of a gene that directly provides an inhibitory effect on the target molecule. One commercial application that can be envisioned for the intrabody technology is the creation of animals that contains intrabody genes against common pathogens, as has been reported for plants.
