What kind of pet do you have? A dog? A cat? A fish? If you do does it glow? Didn’t think so. But it’s alright, you can buy a glowing fish, or GloFish, for around $US20
GloFish are genetically modified zebra fish that were originally developed by scientists for use as indicators of environmental toxins in water sources. The idea being that they would glow in the presence of toxins and retain their normal colouring in clean water. The development of a permanently glowing fish was the first step in this process.
GloFish were developed by extracting the gene which codes for green fluorescent protein (GFP) from a jellyfish and inserting it into the genome of a zebrafish, causing it to glow bright green under white and ultraviolet light with a luminosity rating of eight candelas. The GloFish is the first genetically modified animal to become available commercially.
Since the introduction of the green GloFish, two new colours have been made available using a modified version of the jellyfish gene and a gene from coral. It should also be noted that GloFish are fertile and will give birth to glowing offspring.
GloFish are genetically modified zebra fish that were originally developed by scientists for use as indicators of environmental toxins in water sources. The idea being that they would glow in the presence of toxins and retain their normal colouring in clean water. The development of a permanently glowing fish was the first step in this process.
GloFish were developed by extracting the gene which codes for green fluorescent protein (GFP) from a jellyfish and inserting it into the genome of a zebrafish, causing it to glow bright green under white and ultraviolet light with a luminosity rating of eight candelas. The GloFish is the first genetically modified animal to become available commercially.
Since the introduction of the green GloFish, two new colours have been made available using a modified version of the jellyfish gene and a gene from coral. It should also be noted that GloFish are fertile and will give birth to glowing offspring.
No comments:
Post a Comment