GLOFISH

Genetic engineering or genetic modification, is the process of altering the DNA in an organism’s genome. It
may also mean extracting DNA from another organism’s genome and combining it with the DNA of that individual.
Genetic engineering is used by scientists to enhance or modify the characteristics of an individual organism.

A transgenic, or genetically modified organism, is one that has been altered through
recombinant DNA technology, involves either the combining of DNA from different genomes or the insertion of
foreign DNA into a genome.

GloFish are a type of transgenic zebrafish (Danio rerio) that have been modified through the insertion of a
green fluorescent protein gene, wherein a DNA of a natural zebrafish combine to a Bioluminescent jellyfish.

Glofish was originally created to be a warning sign for pollution. Scientists in Singapore were the first to
genetically modify fish to fluoresce. The long-term goal for the scientists was to detect toxins in water so that
polluted waterways could be identified and the local communities using those waterways could be protected.

According to a report in Washington Post, The Electric Green Tetra, part of a line of GloFish created by
scientists at Yorktown Technologies, was created when black tetra fish were combined with genetic material from
coral. The fish, which becomes fluorescent when placed under a black light, was developed for use in home
aquariums, according to the GloFish website.

Alan Blake, co-founder and CEO of Texas-based Yorktown Technologies, introduced GloFish to the home
aquarium market in 2003. The eventual goal was that they would selectively fluoresce in the presence of toxins.
Yorktown Technologies purchased the license to those always-fluorescing fish and bred its first fluorescent
aquarium pet, the Starfire Red Danio, in 2003. Today there are 12 lines species and color combination of GloFish,
including tetras, zebra fish, and barbs, in such colors as Electric Green, Moonrise Pink, and Cosmic Blue. The fish
appear bright under normal white light and fluoresce brilliantly under a blue light. They are also quite striking under
black light in a completely darkened room.

According to FDA, GloFish are the only genetically engineered product sold commercially in the United
States, and that they are not intended as a food product. Currently, GloFish are the only recombinant-DNA animal
that has been approved for human "use" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Pros Cons
- GMO GloFish can communicate the scientist when water is polluted - Humans aren't allowed to consume GloFish
- GloFish are environmental peaceful, doesn't cause any harm - The GloFish cannot survive in cold waters (their
- They're easy to reproduce because they their decedent would carry habitat is in tropical waters)
that gene - The following countries: Australia, Canada and
- Step forward in genetic engineering Europe ban the commercial marketing of GloFish
- Increases the fish market - (cost about 2-3$ to make and sell 5-6$) because they're GMOs
- With itself had fetched additional qualities such as; molecular - Risk of exploitation
biology, vertebrate development, understanding cellular diseases, as - Disturbance of genetic information
well as cancer and gene therapy.

Submitted by: Meccaella Palma Gwyneth Louis Galimba

Maybelle Lyn Linas Suenie Elumba