Prepared byMOMIN

Master’s StudentDepartment of Aquaculture

Faculty of FisheriesIstanbul University

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Momin_Mominmominm89@ogr.iu.edu.tr

Current Status of Transgenic Salmon

(2016)

Nearly twenty years ago, AquaBounty Technologies Inc. began the application process to obtain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon.1

On November 19, 2015, the FDA approved

AquaBounty Technologies’ application to produce AquAdvantage Salmon.2

This is the first GE animal that has been approved

for human consumption in the United States.

FDA has concluded that AquAdvantage Salmon is as safe as food from non-GE salmon and determined that there are no significant food safety hazards or risks associated with the product.

Introduction

TRANSGENIC FISH

• Transgenic fish or genetically modified fish(GM fish) are

genetically modified organism. The DNA of the fish is modified

using genetic engineering techniques.

• Aim is to introduce a new trait to fish.

• GM fish has been approved by FDA.

History of Genetic Modification • Genetic modification involves the insertion or deletion of

genes and was first performed with bacteria in 1973.• The 1990s brought about the first approvals for commercial-

scale genetic modification of plants.• As approved by the FDA, genetically modified salmon is the

first commercially available animals for food.

AquAdvantage

Salmon Transgenic salmon consist of DNA from both the Pacific

Chinook Salmon and an eel-like fish, called the Ocean Pout, which allows it to keep pumping out growth hormone year-round.

Natural salmon do not produce growth hormone in the cold, winter weather, and can take up to 7 years (although usually 3 years) to reach reproductive age.

With year-round growth hormone, the modified fish reach full size in less than half the time, making it cheaper and more efficient for fish farms.

Chinook salmonScientific classificationKingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: ActinopterygiiOrder: SalmoniformesFamily: SalmonidaeGenus: OncorhynchusSpecies: O. tshawytscha

Ocean poutScientific classificationKingdom:AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass:ActinopterygiiOrder: PerciformesFamily: ZoarcidaeGenus: ZoarcesSpecies: Z. americanus

Atlantic salmonScientific classificationKingdom:AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: ActinopterygiiOrder: SalmoniformesFamily: SalmonidaeGenus: SalmoSpecies: S. salar

Microinjection refers to the process of using a glass micropipette to inject a liquid substance at a microscopic or borderline macroscopic level. The target is often a living cell but may also include intercellular space.

Regulatory sequences from ocean pout AFP gene &coding domain from chinook salmon GH-1 cDNA

Selection

Milt

Non-transgenic Progeny

Transgenic Founder Transgene DNAMicroinjection

FertilizedMicroinjected

Eggs

Promoter TerminatorGH cDNA

TATA

TAGATG

AATAA

////

1989

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

Microinject

P 1

F 1

F 2

F 3

F 4

F 5

2004

2006

2008

F 6

F 7

F 8

salmon egg upwellers

collecting milt from male salmon; collecting eggs from female salmon

Eyed eggs

Eyed salmon eggs on well plate

1. Product IdentityTriploid hemizygous, all-female Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) bearing a single copy of the α-form of the opAFP-GHc2 rDNA construct at the α-locus in the EO-1α lineage.

2. ClaimSignificantly more of these Atlantic salmon grow to at least 100 g within 2700 deg C days than their comparators.

3. Limitations for UseThese Atlantic salmon are produced as eyed-eggs for grow-out only in the FDA-approved physically-contained fresh water culture facility

Product Definition for AquAdvantage Salmon

Threats of Engineered

Salmon:(a) Interbreeding(b) Disturbance of habitat or displacement of wild

stocks.(c) Spread of Diseases i. g., bacteria, viruses, parasites

etc.(d) Ecological impacts68% of all fish extinctions in the last century in North America have arisen as a consequences of introductions of foreign species (3Miller et al. 1989; Fisheries 14:22-38).

Objection:

“The danger is, if the fish gets out, it's a lot more aggressive. It feeds more. It could outcompete not only salmon, but any other local native fish that are in there, because these engineered fish, they actually, not only feed more, but they search in many different places more than the regular salmon. So, that could have an impact.”

Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union

The AquAdvantage® Technique All females.Sterile.Inland tanks; physical barriers between

tanks and open waters.Lack of ability to survive in wild; altered

feeding habits.

Opponents argue:

AquaBounty has conceded that up to five percent of the salmon eggs produced from genetically modified Salmon could be fertile.

Environmental benefits of GM Salmon:

Could reduce the strain of fishing on the natural salmon populations.

Health benefits of eating salmon: reduction of heart attacks.

Background of AquAdvantage® Salmon

Invention of GE Salmon:

•The advantage that Drs. Choy Hew and Garth Fletcher, Aqua Bounty Farms' founding scientists, originally set out to develop was not rapid growth. It was cold tolerance. They wanted to develop Atlantic salmon that could survive Canada's cold winter waters. They became intrigued with the idea of transplanting into salmon a naturally occurring gene that prevents northern fish such as winter flounder and ocean pout from freezing.

•They could not able to success against water temperatures approaching zero degrees Celsius.

•But, as often happens in science, a good idea led to a better one.

Primary attempt:

• Antifreeze proteins are produced mostly in the winter.• Hew and Fletcher tried to link the promoter and

terminator portions of AFP gene to the salmon GH gene, they could perhaps get the salmon to produce its own growth hormone throughout the winter, a season when this function is usually shut down. • They originally estimated 20% or 25% faster growing

than standard salmon.

Impact of Antifreeze Protein

• Dr. Hew believes that the 400% to 600% leap in growth rate occurs for two reasons. First, GH production continues in AquAdvantage salmon at

a relatively high level throughout the winter. Second, under the influence of the AFP gene, GH is being

produced in the livers of AquAdvantage salmon while in other salmon it produce only in Pituitary.

Operations:

• The AquAdvantage Salmon will be produced and imported into the United States.4

• AquaBounty plans to produce eyed eggs at a specific facility on Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada.5 • Eggs will be shipped to Panama and reared to market size in land-based facilities.

The grow-out facility is based in the Panamanian highlands to reduce the risk of salmon escapes and interactions with wild salmon populations. • Salmon will be processed in Panama before being shipped to the United States for

retail sale. No live fish will be imported into the United States.

Are all fishes reproductively

Sterile??• AquaBounty has stipulated that they will produce only sterile female GE Atlantic salmon by a process that manipulates salmonid reproductive biology. The production of monosex salmon is considered to be 100% effective.• In addition, pressure treatment of the eggs induces

triploidy (an extra set of chromosomes), which results in sterility.• In commercial scale production, the rate of sterile

female is more than 98%. (Bodnar, A. 2010)

Fish with access GH: Risk for human consumption???

• The amount of growth hormone in the tissues of the salmon shows that the level of production is entirely within the normal range found in wild salmon. • That is an advantage from the perspective of consumer

acceptability.• But it is not so important from the scientific perspective cause GH

of fish is not metabolized by the human body, it simply passes right through.

Why we need GE Salmon?• For the aquaculture industry, salmon is a desirable candidate

for genetic engineering because of high consumer demand for salmon products.• Production costs decreased with improvements in

broodstock quality, feed, disease management, and other production factors. During the period of rapid expansion of salmon farming, prices for both cultured and wild salmon have generally trended downward.

Production and Trade

• In 1996, worldwide salmon farm production exceeded commercial harvest of wild salmon.6 In 2013, aquaculture production of salmon, trouts, and smelts was 3.177 million metric tons (mmt), with a value of $17.628 billion.7 Production of Atlantic salmon, the main species of this group, was 2.087 mmt, with a value of $12.904 billion.8 • Norway led production, followed by Chile and the United Kingdom

(Table 1). In 2013, farmed production of Atlantic salmon in the United States was 18,685 metric tons, with a value of $105.4 million.

Is it possible to differentiate flesh of GM Salmon?

GE Salmon vs Non-GE Salmon

• The AquAdvantage Salmon also increases the efficiency of salmon production because of faster growth and better feeding efficiency than non-GE Atlantic salmon. • GE Atlantic salmon reach smolt size* more quickly than non-GE

Atlantic salmon and grow to a market size of 1 to 3 kilograms in 16 to 18 months instead of the typical three years.9 • Although AquAdvantage Salmon grow more quickly, they do not

reach an overall larger size than non-GE Atlantic salmon.

According to AquaBounty, analysis of AquAdvantage Salmon has shown that they consume 25% less feed to achieve the same size as non-GE Atlantic salmon.10

Characteristics exhibited by GE salmon include accelerated growth, elevated metabolism, greater feeding motivation and efficiency, increased aggression and foraging activity, and reduced anti-predator response.11

Controversy

Conclusion:• No doubt GE Salmon is a tremendous outbreak in Aquaculture

Biotechnology.• More or less 2% of chance to be non-sterile female could be a

major threat for wild salmon.• Still we do not know the affect of genetically engineered fish

inside human body.• We need time to conclude about Transgenic salmon.

References:1. Upton, H. F. and Cowan. T. 2015. Genetically Engineered Salmon. Congressional

Research Service. 1-26p (www.crs.gov)2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Food and Drug

Administration (FDA), “AquAdvantage Salmon,” at http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/GeneticEngineering/ GeneticallyEngineeredAnimals/ucm280853.htm

3. Miller, R. R., Williams, J. D., Williams, J. E. 1989. Extinctions of North American Fishes During the past Century, Fisheries, 14:6, 22-38

4. AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., at http://www.AquaBounty.com/. 5. Questions have been raised concerning AquaBounty’s approval by Environment

Canada for producing and transporting the GE salmon eggs. See http://lists.cban.ca/pipermail/cban-e-news/2011-October/000346.html.

6. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Fishery Statistical Collections, Global Aquaculture Production, Accessed November 30, 2015, at http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/global-aquaculture-production/en. Hereinafter cited as FAO Global Aquaculture Production 2015. In this case, value is the revenue obtained by the aquaculturalist from the first buyer of the product.

7. FAO, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Fisheries Statistics and Information, Global Aquaculture Production 1950-2013 Online Query, at http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/global-aquaculture-production/ query/en.

8. National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Foreign Trade, Imports of Fishery Products, Online Query, at http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/commercial-fisheries/foreign-trade/raw-data/imports-exports-annual#1.

9. According to the Development Fund, the Norwegian aquaculture industry has developed strains of salmon through selective breeding that grow as fast or faster than AquAdvantage Salmon. See at http://www.utviklingsfondet.no/files/ uf/documents/GMO-Salmon_Fast_Growing_Hype_web.pdf.

10. “As Final U.S. decision Nears, A Lively Debate on GM Salmon,” Environment 360, April 18, 2013, at http://e360.yale.edu/feature/as_final_us_decision_nears_a_lively_debate_on_gm_salmon/2641/. Hereinafter cited as Environment 360, 2013.

11. FDA, AquAdvantage Salmon, Environmental Assessment, November 12, 2015, p. 34, at http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AnimalVeterinary/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/GeneticEngineering/GeneticallyEngineeredAnimals/ UCM466218.pdf. Hereinafter cited as Environmental Assessment, 2015.

Acknowledgment:

Dave Conley, MScDirector, Corporate CommunicationsAquaBounty Technologies, Inc.www.aquabounty.comT. +1 613 294 3078E. dconley@aquabounty.com