Human germline manipulation: technical limits and future perspectives

Abstract

Although many technical difficulties still remain, it appears probable that germline manipulation in humans will be implemented in the near future. The aim of this brief paper is to summarise what can be technically done at present and to indicate the possible applications of the new emerging technologies in this field. In particular we discuss the technical limits to the generation of transgenic and mutant humans and evaluate the problems which may arise in each of these procedures.