Transgenic animals Flashcards
What is a transgenic animal?
Animals that have foreign gene deliberately inserted into their genome without crossbreeding or hybridizing.
What is xenograft?
The practice of grafting an organ or a tissue from one species into another.
What are the potentials of transgenic animals?
- Improved reproductive performance
- Enhancing growth rates and carcass composition
- Improved disease resistance
- Increased milk production
- Reduced environmental Impact.
- Transgenic animals may be used to model human genetic disease
- Transgenic animals may express highly desirable products.
- Production of new materials such as bio-steel from goats
- Production of monoclonal antibodies.
Briefly describe AquAdvantage Salmon.
AquAdvantage salmon is an Atlantic salmon genetically modified with a growth hormone regulating gene from a pacific chinook salmon and a promoter from an ocean pout, allowing it to grow year round instead of only during spring and summer. The purpose of the modification is to increase the growth rate without affecting its other qualities.
What is the main problem associated with sea pen fish farms?
The release of transgenic salmon into the ocean.
Consequences:
- Transgenic fish create competition over food and habitat for wild salmon and could potentially outcompete the fish.
- Crossbreeding between wild and domestic strains of fish could weaken the genetic robustness/diversity of wild population.
- Transmission of diseases
- Introduction of a new predator
What are some strategies to prevent the escape of transgenic fish?
- Genetic modification of transgenic fish to be sterile.
- Safer inland tanks
- Safer ocean farms.
Why are AquAdvantage Salmon sterile?
AquAdvantage are all female and genetically engineered to be sterile where the sterility by induction of triploidy (having three sets of chromosomes) which reduces the risk of interbreeding with wild fish.
