Patent Application: US-201213561615-A

Abstract:
the present invention relates to the method and use of fluorescent proteins in making purple transgenic fluorescent fish . also disclosed are methods of establishing a population of such transgenic fish and methods of providing them to the ornamental fish industry for the purpose of marketing . thus , new varieties of ornamental fish of different fluorescence colors from a novel source are developed .

Description:
in some aspects , the invention regards transgenic fish . methods of making transgenic fish are described in , for example , u . s . pat . nos . 7 , 135 , 613 ; 7 , 700 , 825 ; 7 , 834 , 239 , each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety . it is preferred that fish belonging to species and varieties of fish of commercial value , particularly commercial value within the ornamental fish industry , be used . such fish include but are not limited to catfish , zebrafish , medaka , carp , tilapia , goldfish , tetras , barbs , sharks ( family cyprinidae ), angelfish , loach , koi , glassfish , catfish , discus , eel , tetra , goby , gourami , guppy , xiphophorus , hatchet fish , molly fish , or pangasius . a particular fish for use in the context of the invention is zebrafish , danio rerio . zebrafish are increasingly popular ornamental animals and would be of added commercial value in various colors . zebrafish embryos are easily accessible and nearly transparent . a fish that is of particular use with the disclosed constructs and methods is the golden zebrafish . zebrafish skin color is determined by pigment cells in their skin , which contain pigment granules called melanosomes . the number , size , and density of the melanosomes per pigment cell influence the color of the fish skin . golden zebrafish have diminished number , size , and density of melanosomes and hence have lighter skin when compared to the wild type zebrafish . golden zebrafish have a mutation in the slc24a5 gene , which codes for a putative cation exchanger localized to intracellular membrane , thus rendering the fish skin lighter or less pigmented ( lamason et al ., 2005 ). fish sperm freezing methods are well - known in the art ; see , e . g ., walker and streisinger ( 1983 ) and draper and moens ( 2007 ), both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . to obtain transgenic fish disclosed herein , frozen zebrafish sperm may be used to fertilize eggs , as described in draper and moens ( 2007 ). eggs are collected as described in draper and moens ( 2007 ). briefly , two females are placed in tricaine solution at 16 mg / 100 ml water . after gill movement has slowed , one of the fish is removed and rinsed in water . the fish is placed on a paper towel to dry briefly and then transferred to a small plastic dish . with slightly damp fingers , one finger is placed on the dorsal side of the fish . the eggs are removed by gently pressing on the ventral side of the fish , starting just behind the pectoral fins and moving toward the tail . the eggs from the female zebrafish are squeezed into a 35 mm plastic petri dish . the sperm are thawed at 33 ° c . in a water bath for 8 - 10 sec . 70 μl room temperature hanks solution is added to the vial and mixed . the eggs are then immediately added to the vial and gently mixed . the sperm and eggs are activated by adding 750 μl of fish water and mixing . the mixture is incubated for 5 min at room temperature . the dish is then filled with fish water and incubated at 28 ° c . after 2 - 3 hrs , fertile embryos are transferred to small dishes where they are further cultured . parichy and johnson , 2001 , which is incorporated by reference in its entirety , provides additional examples regarding in vitro fertilization . the invention further encompasses progeny of a transgenic fish containing the purple zebrafish 1 integration event , as well as such transgenic fish derived from a transgenic fish egg , sperm cell , embryo , or other cell containing a genomically integrated transgenic construct . “ progeny ,” as the term is used herein , can result from breeding two transgenic fish of the invention , or from breeding a first transgenic fish of the invention to a second fish that is not a transgenic fish of the invention . in the latter case , the second fish can , for example , be a wild - type fish , a specialized strain of fish , a mutant fish , or another transgenic fish . the hybrid progeny of these matings have the benefits of the transgene for fluorescence combined with the benefits derived from these other lineages . the simplest way to identify fish containing the purple zebrafish 1 transformation event is by visual inspection , as the fish in question would be purple colored and immediately distinguishable from non - transgenic fish . the invention will now be further described with reference to the following examples . these examples are intended to be merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit or restrict the scope of the invention in any way and should not be construed as providing conditions , parameters , reagents , or starting materials that must be utilized exclusively in order to practice the art of the present invention . transgenic fish exhibiting a purple color are provided . the fp635 fluorescent protein open reading frame was acquired from evrogen , jsc as the pturbofp635 - n plasmid , which is commercially available ( cat . no . fp722 ). this protein was derived from turborfp , which is a modified version of the red fluorescent protein eqfp578 from entacmaea quadricolor . the fp635 protein was introduced into an expression cassette . the expression cassette sequence was verified using restriction endonucleases and by sequencing of the completed cassette . to make the transgenic fish , the constructs were purified by conventional methods and introduced into founder fish . the specific transgenic events embodied in these fish are designated purple zebrafish 1 . sperm from these fish may be used to fertilize zebrafish eggs , using methods known to those of ordinary skill in the art and methods described herein , and thereby breed transgenic zebrafish that comprise these specific transgenic integration events . sperm from this line is deposited at the european collection of cell cultures ( ecacc ), porton down , salisbury , sp4 ojg , united kingdom , on jan . 28 , 2011 , under the provisions of the budapest treaty as “ purple zebrafish 1 ” ( accession no . 11012801 ; cell line zebrafish 2011 . 1 pzf001 ). the fluorescent transgenic fish have use as ornamental fish in the market . stably expressing transgenic lines can be developed by breeding a transgenic individual with a wild - type fish , mutant fish , or another transgenic fish . the desired transgenic fish can be distinguished from non - transgenic fish by observing the fish in white light , sunlight , ultraviolet light , blue light , or any other useful lighting condition that allows visualization of the purple color of the transgenic fish . the fluorescent transgenic fish should also be valuable in the market for scientific research tools because they can be used for embryonic studies such as tracing cell lineage and cell migration . additionally , these fish can be used to mark cells in genetic mosaic experiments and in fish cancer models . all of the compositions and / or methods disclosed and claimed herein can be made and executed without undue experimentation in light of the present disclosure . while the compositions and methods of this invention have been described in terms of preferred embodiments , it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that variations may be applied to the compositions and / or methods and in the steps or in the sequence of steps of the methods described herein without departing from the concept , spirit and scope of the invention . more specifically , it will be apparent that certain agents that are both chemically and physiologically related may be substituted for the agents described herein while the same or similar results would be achieved . all such similar substitutes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to be within the spirit , scope , and concept of the invention as defined by the appended claims . the following references , to the extent that they provide exemplary procedural or other details supplementary to those set forth herein , are specifically incorporated herein by reference . u . s . pat . no . 7 , 135 , 613 u . s . pat . no . 7 , 700 , 825 u . s . pat . no . 7 , 834 , 239 barolo et al ., biotechniques , 36 ( 3 ): 436 - 440 ; 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