Abstract Abstract In order to identify the availability of subgerminal cavity microinjection of foreign DNA as an effective way in making transgenic chickens and gene function study, foreign plasmid pEGFP-N1 was injected into the subgerminal cavity of the fresh fertilized eggs before incubation, and the embryos of 0.5，1，3，4，5，6 day-old were collected to identify the metabolism and distribution of the exogenous DNA. The success rate of integration of the foreign DNA was then analyzed by restriction enzyme digestion. The results indicated that the microinjected plasmid could be found in the whole embryos after incubation for 0.5, 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 days. The positive ratio was 100%, 80.00%, 66.57%, 75.00%, 64.29% and 84.21%, respectively. The foreign plasmid was declined along with the embryos development. 75 % of the hatched chicks showed positive results. However, the fragment of foreign DNA did not integrate into the host cell genome. They were in free or polymerization status.
