'Trojan Gene' Could Wipe Out Fish!


GM salmon are currently confined to labsPhoto Left: GM salmon are currently confined to labs.

JUST ONE genetically-modified (GM) fish could wipe out local populations of the species if released into the wild, biologists have warned.

"The least fit individual in the population is getting all the matings - this is the reverse of Darwin's model"

Professor William Muir

The researchers believe their results are the first evidence that GM organisms could have catastrophic consequences on their own species. They also believe that other organisms could face similar risks from GM relatives.

William Muir and Richard Howard of Purdue University, Indiana, US, have dubbed their proposal the "Trojan gene" hypothesis, which is reported in New Scientist magazine.

"This resembles the Trojan horse," said Professor Muir. "It gets into the population looking like something good and it ends up destroying the population."


Human Growth Hormone

The researchers studied fish carrying the human growth hormone gene hGH, which increases growth rate and final size. Biologists in the US and Britain are experimenting with salmon engineered in a similar way, although no-one has yet begun commercial production.

Muir and Howard included hGH in embryos of a fish called the Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), a common aquarium fish that is widely used in research. They found that modified individuals became sexually mature faster than normal fish and produced more eggs.

The model predicts a wipe-out The model predicts a wipe-out
 

Other experiments, using non-modified fish, showed that larger males attracted four times as many mates as their smaller rivals. This effect is also known in salmon.

Professor Muir predicts that fish made bigger by genetic engineering would enjoy the same reproductive advantages. So the hGH gene would quickly spread through a fish population.

But Muir and Howard also found that only two-thirds of engineered medaka survived to reproductive age, compared with wild medakas. So the spread of the growth hormone gene could make populations dwindle and eventually become extinct.

"It would make it very difficult for anyone at the moment to approve the release of GM fish carrying growth hormone"
Professor John Beringer

To quantify this, the researchers plugged their results into a computer model to find out what would happen if 60 transgenic individuals joined a wild population of 60,000 fish. The population became extinct within just 40 generations. Even a single transgenic animal could have the same effect, they found, although extinction would take longer.

"You have the very strange situation where the least fit individual in the population is getting all the matings - this is the reverse of Darwin's model," said Professor Muir. "Sexual selection drives the gene into the population and the reduced viability drives the population to extinction."

Professor David Penman, a fish geneticist at the University of Stirling, said there is evidence that some GM fish modified with growth hormone have reduced sperm production and mating success.

"If large males tend to mate with large females, this would often result in matings between GM fish," he added. This would decrease rather than increase the spread of the gene.


GM Warning

But Professor John Beringer of Bristol University, a former chairman of the committee that advises the UK Government on GM organisms, says the research is a warning.

"It would make it very difficult for anyone at the moment to approve the release of GM fish carrying growth hormone," he said. "I would have to give a great deal of consideration about whether that's an intelligent route to go down."

Professor Muir says that the model may prove an invaluable tool in assessing the dangers of GM organisms. He now hopes to test its predictions in tightly controlled fish farm ponds.

SOURCE
 


One GM Fish Could Destroy Wild Populations
 

According to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, a single genetically modified (GM) fish released into the wild could turn Darwinian evolution upside down and wipe out local populations of the species. The paper, by William Muir and Richard Howard of Purdue University in West Lafayette, USA, made the discovery while modelling ecological risks associated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The researchers have dubbed their idea the ‘Trojan gene’ hypothesis.

The researchers studied fish carrying the human growth hormone gene, hGH, which increases growth rate and final size. Muir and Howard produced transgenic Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), carrying the growth hormone gene. The transgenic fish became sexually mature faster than normal fish and produced more eggs. Other experiments using non-modified fish revealed that larger males attracted four times as many mates as their smaller rivals. This effect has also been observed in salmon, a commercial candidate for gene transfer technology. According to Muir, larger, transgenic fish would enjoy the same reproductive advantages and the hGH gene would quickly spread through a fish population. Muir and Howard also found that only two-thirds of the transgenic medaka survived to reproductive age compared with wild medakas. Thus, the spread of the growth hormone gene through the population could cause them to fall and eventually become extinct.

In order to determine the magnitude of this effect, a computer model was used to predict population changes. By adding 60 transgenic individuals to a wild population of 60,000 fish, the model predicted that the population would become extinct within only 40 generations. The same effect could be observed when only one transgenic animal was added to the population, the extinction effect just took longer.

Commenting on the research, Muir said, "You have the very strange situation where the least fit individual in the population is getting all the matings, this is the reverse of Darwin's model. The sexual selection drives the gene into the population and the reduced viability drives the population to extinction." According to the researchers, their results are the first evidence that GMOs could have catastrophic consequences on their own species.

Other experts, such as David Penman, a fish geneticist at the University of Stirling, UK, welcomed the discovery. Penman has evidence that some transgenic fish modified with growth hormone have reduced sperm production and mating success. "If large males tend to mate with large females, this would often result in matings between transgenics," he commented. This effect would decrease rather than increase the spread of the gene. John Beringer of Bristol University, a former chairman of the British committee that advises the government on GMOs, commented that the research was a warning. He is cited as saying, "It would make it very difficult for anyone at the moment to approve the release of GM fish carrying growth hormone…..I would have to give a great deal of consideration about whether that's an intelligent route to go down."

The paper explaining the ‘Trojan Horse’ hypothesis appeared in PNAS (1999) 96(24), pp. 13853-13856 and was by William M. Muir and Richard D. Howard.

SOURCE


Transgenics: The Coming Genetics Nightmare!

     Gene Wars Only a Few Years Away, Say Doctors    Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy

The Trojan Horse of Genetically Modified Food

Coming Gene Wars  |  Got Spider Goat Milk?  |  Spider Goats

Mad Scientists!  |  Human Cows!  |  Transgenics and Transvestites

Making Genetic Monsters  |  Transgenic Cats  |  Transgenic Pigs

BIOCOLONIZATION  |  Playing God with Chimeras  |  Human Mice!

Outrage at "Frankenstein" Animal Experiments  |  The Thing!

Transgenic Pigs End Up as Chicken Feed

Genetic Engineering: Playing God?  |  The Coming Genetics Nightmare

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (stem cell research, cloning, etc.)

Transgenic Chickens  |  Transgenic Sheep

Molecular Trojan Horses  |  Kluwer Transgenic Research

The Stanford Transgenic Research Facility

Transgenic Research Reagents

Disturbing Possibilities - A Human Cow!

The Biotech Harvest  |  The Coming Food Shortage!

Controlling the World's Food - Seeds of Deception!

Chimeras, Cloning and Freak Human-Animal Hybrids (mutants)

A Spinach Pig  |  Vegetable (edible) Vaccinations  |  Designer Babies

End of the World?


This will be every transgenic cat's dream, glow in the dark mice.  Don't think for one moment that fluorescent humans aren't around the corner, mark my words...you'll see it, along with spider humans and every other godless monstrosity of mad scientists.  Man's good intentions are often a Pandora's box.  Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Transgenic Cats
Every single transgenic animal of any species born so far has had genetic defects that scientists admit they cannot predict and that seem to adhere to no pattern. Transgenic animals are being born with lungs that don't inflate, for example. Others can't stand up. Most—98 percent—abort their fetuses. Researchers are driven by money, not ethics. They have no idea what will happen to cats if they remove the genes that cause sneezing in people. Those genes are there for a reason, and tinkering causes physiological and immune system problems that researchers admit they can neither anticipate nor control.

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." -Genesis 1:24