Glo Fish Case Essay Example for Free

Glo Fish Case Essay The GloFish was the first genetically modified animal to become available as a pet. It is a natural Zebrafish which has had genetic information from bioluminescent jellyfish added to its DNA. It was originally produced to provide a warning system for pollution but with the addition of further colors its viability for the pet market became clear. It was introduced to the US market in December 2003 by Yorktown Technologies of Austin, Texas. 9 Grapple The grapple is a relatively new fruit which is a genetic cross between an apple and a grape. The fruit combines the size of the apple with the texture of an grape and the flavor of both parent fruits. The grapple was originally designed to provide a much higher vitamin-c dose per fruit for third world aid. The majority of the funding for the fruit came from UNICEF. 8 Graisin The graisin [giant raisin] is a variety of raisin which has been modified to grow to enormous proportions. The graisin was produced by the National Institute of Genetics in Japan due to the Japanese love of large fruit and the recent popularity of western foods such as raisins. The texture and taste is identical to that of its genetically normal parent and it is served raw or thinly sliced in a stir fry. 7 Rubber Cork Tree Cork trees have long been used for producing cork-stoppers for wine though some wine producers have also begun using plastic corks. Wine enthusiasts have not taken to the rubber corks and so, in order to appease the traditionalists and the cost-cutting wine makers, SABIC innovative plastics have developed a tree which is a cross between a rubber tree and a cork tree. The corks taken from the bark of this new tree look like real cork and have the same porous qualities, but has the permanence and flavorlessness of rubber. Ghislain de Mongolfier, current manager and great grandson of the founder of champagne producer Bollinger, said: â€Å"This new cork is the greatest thing to happen to wine since the invention of bubbles†. 6 Umbuku Lizard This creature is the only one on the list which was not designed for a practical reason, but merely to prove that it could be done. Genetic Engineers in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) managed to unlock a dormant â€Å"flying† strand in the DNA of the Umbuku lizard, a very small and rare lizard native to Africa. It is believed that the lizard is a descendent of the Pterodactyl, which lost its ability to fly some millions of years ago. To date only 6 of these flying Umbuku have been produced and they are kept seperate from the natural Umbuku due the risk of cross breeding. 5 Paper Tree The paper tree has been developed to reduce production costs and loss of tree life in the paper manufacturing industry. The recent explosion in popularity of recycled paper products lead a Swiss based company to develop a tree which grows square leaves that, when dried, are already usable as writing paper. In the image above we see a company employee holding a dried leaf beside the trunk of one of the many Paper Trees now grown by the company. 4 Dolion This is probably the most remarkable example of how far science is able to go with modern DNA and cross fertilization techniques; the dolion is a cross between a lion and a dog. In order to produce this incredible rare animal (only 3 dolions exist in laboratories – the photo above is of Rex, the first ever produced), individual strands of DNA from each creature must be combined and re-inserted in to a host egg. This is similar to theliger (lion/tiger crossbreed) with the exception that the liger is able to be produced without prior manipulation of the DNA of either breed of animal. 3 Tiny Piney The Tiny Piney is a miniature pine tree which is a mere 2cm tall when fully grown. It was originally developed to provide a fast growing source for pine-tree smell to be used in the fragrance industry but in very little time its usefulness in other areas became obvious. This tiny pine tree is now hugely popular as an edible plant in Papua New Guinea where it is dipped in a batter made from coconut milk and shellac beetle shells and deep fried. The Tiny Piney (official trademark) has a very subtle pine flavor which is enhanced by the coconut milk. The Tiny Piney is usually eaten as a dessert. 2 Fern Spider The fern spider is unique on this list as it is the only combined plant and animal. At the time of writing this is the only animal that has successfully been crossed with a plant. The spider is a cross between a common Italian Wolf spider (Lycosa tarantula) and the ponga fern (Cyathea dealbata). The purpose of this bizarre crossbreed was to study the survival rates of spiders with built in camouflage versus those without in a series of studies on Natural Selection at Massey University in New Zealand. The results of the study have not been published yet. 1 Lemurat With the growing wealth of China, many rich Chinese women are seeking alternative and exotic pets to show off their money. This has lead to a number of Chinese medical and scientific research companies to compete for this new income source by producing cross breed animals. The most successful (financially) so far has been the Lemur Cat. It is (as the name suggests) a cross between a lemur and a cat. It retains the soft fur of the cat and the coloring, but has the striped tail and yellow eyes commonly found on a lemur. It is more ferocious than the average cat but it is generally no more dangerous than a Chihuahua dog. The scientific name for this new breed is Prolos Fira. This is not an exhaustive list of genetically engineered animals like bovine with massive growth and milk or the alergy free cats and super salmons. Here are probably best examples of how far bio-science can go with DNA technology and genetic re-engineering. The fundamental unit to control different properties of an organism are millions of genes in its DNA. And it is possible to isolate every single gene. Thus any biological property that exists in any living thing in any living world could be brought into any other living thing even of any other world. 1. GloFish Source The GloFish is a patented brand of genetically modified (GM) fluorescent zebrafish with bright red, green, and orange fluorescent color. The original zebrafish from which the GloFish was developed measures three centimeters long and has gold and dark blue stripes. In 1999, Dr. Zhiyuan Gong and his colleagues at the National University of Singapore were working with a gene called green fluorescent protein (GFP), originally extracted from a jellyfish, that naturally produced bright green bioluminescence. They inserted the gene into a zebrafish embryo, allowing it to integrate into the zebrafish’s genome, which caused the fish to be brightly fluorescent under both natural white light and ultraviolet light. Their goal was to develop a fish that could detect pollution by selectively fluorescing in the presence of environmental toxins. It is the first genetically modified animal to become publicly available as a pet. 2. Vacanti Mouse Source The Vacanti mouse was a laboratory mouse that had what looked like a human ear grown on its back. The â€Å"ear† was actually an ear-shaped cartilage structure grown by seeding cow cartilage cells into a biodegradable ear-shaped mold. The earmouse, as it became known as, was created by Dr. Charles Vacanti, at the University of Massachusetts in 1995. Created to demonstrate a method of fabricating cartilage structures for transplantation into human patients, a resorbable polyester fabric was infiltrated with bovine cartilage cells and implanted under the skin of a hairless mouse. The mouse itself was a commonly used strain of immunocompromised mouse, preventing a transplant rejection 3. Sudden-Death Mosquito Source Oxitec which is a British bio-tech company, has created genetically modified mosquitoes, which are programmed for sudden, early death. Oxitec’s technology is a variation of a proven process called â€Å"sterile insect technique† It involves irradiating male insects, causing mutations that make them sterile. When released into the wild, they mate with females passing on lethal genes which either kills the female or at least kills the youngs in her so then she fails to reproduce . Scientists at this British bio tech company said they have evidence that their genetically modified mosquitoes can by this way for sure control the spread of dengue fever. 4. Dolly the Sheep Source Not so cool or disturbing enough but dolly would hit this list for sure since she was the first ever cloned animal which means that she was produced from a single microscopic cell from a single parent (who hadn’t mated of-course). Cloning techniques might be used widely now in some part of worlds for food but dolly remains remarkable in being the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer. Normally off-springs are a result of interaction of sex cells but in case of dolly’s birth, sex cells weren’t involved. She was cloned by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in Scotland. She was born on 5 July 1996 and she lived until the age of six. She has been called â€Å"the world’s most famous sheep† by sources including BBC News and Scientific American. To good, dolly was fertile and produced 6 lambs in total. She died in 2003, living about half as long as a typica l sheep. She developed a lung disease common in older sheep. 5. See-Through Frog Source Dissecting animals for science has sparked controversies worldwide, even prompting some companies to create computer simulations as cruelty-free alternatives. For high school students everywhere, this revealing amphibian may be a cut above regular frogs. That’s because the see-through frog does not require dissection to see its organs, blood vessels, and eggs. You can see through the skin how organs grow, how cancer starts and develops. It’s a miracle of genetic engineering and surely a cool mutant gift to students. 6. Jake the Alligator Man Source Jake the Alligator Man is a half-man, half-alligator on display in apparently mummified condition at Marsh’s Free Museum, a tourist trap in Long Beach, Washington. He was discovered in Florida swamp in 1993. He was reported for his escape from captivity, killing of a Miami man, and giving birth. Residents fled the region’s beaches in fear of terrifying monsters lurking the sand dunes. Scientists are controversial about this creature. Some say its a missing link and some say it might be a distant ancestor of man. However some later theories claimed that it was an early secret genetically engineering project gone wrong and wild. Whatever Jake’s true origin be but he surely is a mutant. 7. Ruppy Source Ruppy (short for Ruby Puppy) is a cloned beagle from South Korea who glows red under ultraviolet light. Ruppy was created in 2009 by a group of scientists in South Korea, led by Byeong-Chun Lee. The dog was cloned using viral transfection of fibroblasts cells with a protein that expresses the red fluorescent gene. 8. Land Mines Detecting Plants Source Developed by Copenhagen firm Aresa Biodetection, these genetically modified plants can be handy when it comes to saving the world. Whenever flowers hit nitrogen dioxide (which leaches into the soil from buried land mines), the plant changes color to red. 9. Fuel Excreting Genetically Modified Bugs This isn’t made up nor it’s sci-fi, a researcher at silicon valley has found genetically modified bugs which eat agricultural waste and excrete diesel fuel. [via TimesOnline] 10. Enviropig Source A genetically engineered pig approved for limited production which produces 65 percent less phosphorous in animal waste thus very environmental friendly Enviro-Pig Already created the Enviro-Pig has been genetically engineered with edited DNA from a pig and genetic material from mice. The result is the Enviro-Pig, a pig that is able to break down phosphorus. Normally within a normal pigs biology phosphorus cant be broken down and it comes out in their feces. The feces is used as fertilizer for crops and eventually most of it runs off into streams and rivers. This is where the problems begin as the phosphorus drastically increases algae blooms and destroys habitats for fish. This is why the Enviro-Pig was engineered as very little phosphorus comes out in its feces. Although there is a great ethical and moral dilemma surrounding the creation of animals that dont exist I do think that within a controlled environment that the Enviro-Pig is one that people should consider breeding on a larger scale. There are currently talks to allow the Enviro-Pigs meat to be sold in supermarkets. Despite the picture Ive included (mostly for a laugh) consider that the enviro-Pig doesnt look much different than a normal pig and its meat would have all of the same nutrients and nutritional value as shown in extensive testing of the animal. COWS (with human genes) More recently in 2011 Chinese scientist have been breeding cows genetically engineered with genes from human beings to produce milk that would be the same as human breast milk. Would I support this? I must admit I am not quite sure as we are now mixing human with animal, I suppose where that line is ends is a little blurry on that one. GOATS (that produce silk in their milk?) As unusual as it is this is a reality. A company called Biosteel has genetically engineered goats to produce milk with strong spider web like silk proteins in their milk. These particles are used by the company to make bulletproof vests and anti-ballistic missile systems for military contracts. Glow in the dark pigs Source: Glow in the dark pigs PIGS (that glow in the dark!) In 2006 in Taiwan scientists used genetic material from a jelly fish and implanted it into pig embyros. The result? Pigs that glow bright green in the dark! During the daylight hours these pigs have a tinge of green on their skin, snout and teeth but as soon as night comes they are light very fat fireflies trotting around their pigpen. The pigs whole body including its internal organs and heart glow green. The Taiwan scientists have said that the pigs were created for stem cell research, but why do you need glowing pigs for that? It can be noted that south korean scientists have also created a florescent glowing red dog called Ruppy, which is short for Ruby Puppy. Apes (with human genes) Japanese scientists have implanted human genes into marmosets and are currently using the monkeys to work on a cure for huntingtons disease and strokes in humans. Again is it good to be putting human genetics into animals? Im not sure, as said earlier there has to be a line somewhere, but where? It should also be noted that for a very long time scientists have been replacing the genes in mice (known as knockout mice) to perform these types of tests for cancer, parkinsons and other such diseases.