The modification of the characteristics of animals in very precise ways, most recently through the transference of a gene. Animals altered in this way are called transgenic. Holloway (Economic and Social Research Council web pages for funding and guidance) provides a useful summary, noting that, to the layperson, the adoption of genetic techniques is portrayed as being ‘straightforward and inevitable’, which it is not.

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-062-23-0642/outputs/read/f4e2c8ea-bf3a-42cd-9a08-24bf220225c4 ESRC web pages for funding and guidance.