The world’s largest glow-in-the-dark fish — about 12cm long — have been produced by Taiwanese researchers at Academia Sinica, with the cooperation of a tropical fish export company, and have gained patents for the critical technologies involved, the Ministry of Science and Technology said yesterday.
Funded by the ministry, the project was led by Chen Jyh-yih (陳志毅), an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Marine Research Station.
Chen said the estimated global trade value of aquarium fish has reached about US$5 billion a year, with the annual output of aquarium fish exported from Taiwan at about NT$1 billion (US$3.32 million).
Photo: CNA
The world’s first fluorescent fish was produced in Taiwan in 2003 and was selected by Time magazine as one of the 40 coolest inventions of the year.
While it is more difficult to genetically modify bigger fish, the team succeeded in finding the suitable promoter — a sequence of DNA that initiates the transcription of a particular gene — from tilapia myosin and injected it into the eggs of the convict cichlid, along with pink fluorescent protein from a type of local coral.
The team produced the genetically modified fluorescent pink convict cichlid in 2012 and the double transgenic fluorescent green and pink convict cichlid, known as the peach princess, last year, Chen said, and also gained a patent for the DNA promoter after submitting an application in 2012.
However, because trading regulations and genetically modified organism guidelines differ in different countries, the fish cannot be commercially exported at present, he said, adding that a rough estimate is that the price of the fish could be about NT$80,000.
The cost of a normal convict cichlid is less than NT$100, he said.
In addition, Chen said that the fish not only have a huge potential market value, but also serve an educational purpose and their images can be made into creative products.
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