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Journalism of Courage
The world8217;s first transgenic rohu has been developed by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research8217;s T J Pandian at Madurai University, paving the way for rapid and efficient methods of fish improvement.
The team led by Pandian sequenced and cloned the growth hormone. The variety of rohu thus produced is auto-transgenic, meaning the growth hormone has been isolated from within the rohu itself and enhanced, instead of being inserted with genes from a different species. The super fish grows six to seven times faster than normal fish.
Transgenic ornamental fish with a jellyfish8217;s fluorescent genes has recently opened new possibilities for producing multi-coloured fluorescent fish. These fetch high prices in the international market. Transgenic fish can also be used as bioreactors to produce pharmaceutical products.
With cotton still the only transgenic crop given the go-ahead in India, though, it could be years before the fish are ready for field trials and commercial application.
