Purple transgenic fluorescent ornamental fish

Abstract

The present invention relates to the method and use of fluorescent proteins in making purple transgenic fluorescent fish. Also disclosed are methods of establishing a population of such transgenic fish and methods of providing them to the ornamental fish industry for the purpose of marketing. Thus, new varieties of ornamental fish of different fluorescence colors from a novel source are developed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 443,063 filed on Feb. 15, 2011, the entire contents of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference without disclaimer.[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]This invention relates to transgenic fish, particularly purple fluorescent transgenic fish.[0004]2. Description of Related Art[0005]Transgenic technology involves the transfer of a foreign gene into a host organism enabling the host to acquire a new and inheritable trait. The technique was first developed in mice by Gordon et al. (1980). They injected foreign DNA into fertilized eggs and found that some of the mice developed from the injected eggs retained the foreign DNA. Applying the same technique, Palmiter et al. (1982) introduced a chimeric gene containing a rat growth hormone gene under a mouse heavy metal-inducible gene promoter and generated the first batch of genetically engineered mice, which were almost t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is about making recombinant constructs and transgenic fluorescent fish. The technical effects of this invention include making fish with one or more chromosomally integrated expression cassettes that encode a fluorescent protein. The fish can be made by introducing a transgenic expression cassette into zebrafish embryos or zebrafish embryonic stem cells, and then selecting fish that express the transgene. The fish can also be made by exposing the fish to light of appropriate wavelength or visibly inspecting the fish and observing the expression of the transgene. The invention also includes transgenic fish comprising specific transgenic integration events, which are of particular interest to the ornamental fish industry. The fish can be distributed to the ornamental fish market, and the methods for making and distributing the fish are also provided. The fish can be used for the development of a biosensor system and as research models for embryonic studies.

Problems solved by technology

However, for the ornamental fish industry the dark striped pigmentation of the adult zebrafish does not aid in the efficient display of the various colors that are currently available on the market.