What is GM Salmon? And how is it made?

Question

What is GM Salmon? And how is it made? Whats the impacts with it. Is it wrong or right? 

Answer 1

 

Chanel,

 

GM stands for genetically modified, therefore, GM Salmon is genetically modified salmon.

 

Any GM organism is made by modifying the genome of an egg and fertilizing it with sperm, the fertilized blastocysts are transplanted back in a foster mother to produce a transgenic strain that is maintained by sibling mating. This is true for mammals such as mice/rat.

 

Blastocyst is a an early stage dividing zygote/fertilized egg  that is developing to become a complete embryo with differentiation of  all the embryonic layers. Blastocyst is also an embryonic stage, at this stage an embryo is just a ball of dividing cells.

 

Sometimes a modified gene is injected in blastocyst embryos  with a needle and DNA in appropriate buffer. Then injected blastocysts are allowed to grow in right medium until they reach swimming embryonic stage. After that they are transferred to larger beakers/tanks to develop further. This can be done when the fertilization and development are external events and that is the case for lower vertebrates such as teleost fish (salmon).

 

 

For food industry, GM Salmon could be good since nutritionist and scientists would like to modify the genes that would enhance its nutritional value for the consumers as well as lead to enhanced reproduction to produce large amount of seafood at low cost for human consumption.

 

However, for environment it may or may not be good since it may create an imbalance in ecosystem as a predominant species. Then again, it may create an extinction of GM or wild species as well since scientists producing GM crops/seafood/poultry/meats etc. focus on the production in controlled lab environment. They have limited data on impact of GM species in wild. In addition, the climate and conditions in wild change due to natural and man-made factors. It is likely that GM species might not have the same survival ability to environmental alterations as wild types ones have.

 

It could be right to make good protein and nutrient sources available at reasonable cost.  It is wrong to let these species be in wild since they might cause extinction of the wild species in long run.

 

Hope it helps.