"Have you ever wondered whether you'd be able to own a genetically-engineered pet, maybe one in wild colors that are not found in nature? The answer is yes, and you can have one today for as little as $7. These are GloFish: ornamental aquarium fish genetically modified to express fluorescent proteins, making them glow under blue or ultraviolet light. How were these modern marvels created, and what may follow them in the pet trade in the future?"
"In the simplest terms for a complex process, genetic engineering involves using technology to change an organism's DNA. This can mean just changing a single base pair of the DNA, deleting a region of it, or adding in a new DNA segment. Genes from one organism can be spliced into the DNA of another organism. In the 1990s, researchers experimented with adding a fish antifreeze gene to tomatoes to increase frost resistance, but no such product was ever commercialized."
GloFish are ornamental aquarium fish engineered to express fluorescent proteins, causing them to glow under blue or ultraviolet light, and they can be purchased for as little as $7. Genetic engineering changes organism DNA by altering base pairs, deleting regions, or adding new DNA segments, and can insert genes from one organism into another. Many crops—soybeans, alfalfa, apples, corn, canola, cotton, sugar beets, zucchini, potatoes, yellow squash, papayas, and pink pineapples—have been modified to improve yield, hardiness, and resistance to diseases, pests, and herbicides. Historical experiments included adding a fish antifreeze gene to tomatoes in the 1990s, though that product never reached commercialization. The field continues evolving with examples in livestock and medical research.
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