Borderless gene editing in fish
Seafood forms an important part of the diet in many Asian countries. Seafood markets are everywhere and the demand for fish, shrimp and other seafood is increasing. Gene editing in fish can improve the quality of their meat and increase the productivity of fish. Considering the importance of seafood, the CGE established a Fish Facility, where we are working on the following projects:
- Project 1. Development of an efficient gene transfer method in various fish species
- Project 2. Optimization and generation of conditional knockout fish utilizing the SCON (Short Conditional IntrON) technique
- Project 3. Establishment of intestinal organoids from fish
Using a CRISPR/Cas9 system and applying microinjection and electroporation methos, we will first identify genes of interest, including those involved in sperm-egg recognition, cold-resistance, and disease-resistance, in zebrafish and medaka, and then apply our findings to other fish species. For example, applying gene-editing techniques to marine fish can reduce the time needed to produce higher quality fish compared to traditional breeding techniques.
Due to embryonic lethality, the study of developmentally essential genes is limited to the early stages. This issue can be resolved through the generation of a conditional knock-out for essential genes. The SCON technique (Wu et al., 2022) is a universal conditional intron system for a conditional knock-out approach applicable to various animal models, such as zebrafish and medaka. By generating SCON-integrated fish, we can investigate the functions of essential genes spatially and temporally.
Studying bacterial- and virus-infection diseases in farmed fish has been challenging due to the long generation time and limited tools being available. To overcome these limitations, our goal is to establish intestinal organoids from fish and investigate diseases in farmed fish.
Contact : Jung-Hwa Choi (jhchoi@ibs.re.kr)
