What's your view on this? I see that this starting to take place now. I 've seen some GFP Axolotls, and can help but wonder when we will have a glow in the dark Gartersnake or a green snake given a growth gene from a retic. I am considering experimenting with it myself. You can purchase most of what is need for such experiments from online biological supply companies for a few hundred dollars.
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Genetically engineered Herps?
RickGordon
May 06, 2010 11:32 PM
Replies (2)
varanid
May 07, 2010 05:13 PM
>>What's your view on this? I see that this starting to take place now. I 've seen some GFP Axolotls, and can help but wonder when we will have a glow in the dark Gartersnake or a green snake given a growth gene from a retic. I am considering experimenting with it myself. You can purchase most of what is need for such experiments from online biological supply companies for a few hundred dollars.
I want a genetically engineered mini-Trex that stands about 1' high and can be trained to attack the neighborhood kids. 
genetic engineering isn't nearly as far along as that. There's been some good work with implants (growing human organs on lab mice for instance) but I'm unaware of anything that would come remotely close to what you're talking about with the 2nd example. I've seen glow-in-the dark fish (BLECH) but I think those have mostly been done by injecting chemicals into translucent fish, rather than actual genetic engineering. There's been cloning of course, and there's been cases where single, simple traits are altered (receptors for certain biological or chemical signals)but I haven't seen anything done that substantially reworks an animal.
Personally, they wouldn't be "herps" at that point, just oddities. Neat ones maybe though.
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RickGordon
May 07, 2010 11:37 PM
No the Glow in the dark fish and Axolotls are the result of recombinant DNA. they add a gene from a jelly fish that produces the Green florecent Protien. This trait is inheritable. The fact that it can be done on Axolotls, shows that it can be done on other amphibians as well, just as easily. Glow fish have gene for color taken from corals. Amphibians and zebra fish are used because they are easy to spawn and have large eggs for injecting genes into. You can purchase GFP gene from Carolina biological supply.
