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Wellcome Image Awards 2017 Fishy Editing
20 March 2017

Fishy Editing

This isn’t a horror from the deep, but a developing zebrafish. Its eyes glow red after a trick of genetic engineering. A revolutionary technique called CRISPR/Cas9 allows scientists to edit the fish’s genome – adding or removing genes – providing a useful testing ground for gene editing in other species, including human cells. Here CRISPR inserts an artificial red fluorescent gene that switches on with a natural gene in the lens of the fish’s eye. The new gene produces a red protein in the iris, and also in the fish’s sensory neuromasts – cells dotted around the developing ears that detect vibration in the water, useful when there are predators around. Combined here with a turquoise stain to highlight the developing nervous system, gene-edited zebrafish also have huge potential in exploring genetic disorders and diseases involving similar human genes.

Written by John Ankers

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