TRANSGENIC FISH MODEL IN ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY

A number of experiments and the use of drugs have been performed in fish. The fish may be used as model organism in various biological experiments, including environmental toxicology. Aquatic animals are being engineered to increase aquaculture production, for medical and industrial research, and for ornamental reasons. Fish have been found to play an important role in assessing potential risks associated with exposure to toxic substances in aquatic environment. Hence, it has been thought that the development of transgenic fish can enhance the use of fish in environmental toxicology. India has developed experimental transgenics of rohu fish, zebra fish, cat fish and singhi fish. Genes, promoters and vectors of indigenous origin are now available for only two species namely rohu and singhi for engineering growth. Development of fish model carrying identical transgenes to those found in rodents is beneficial and has shown that several aspects of in vivo mutagenesis are similar between the two classes of vertebrates. Fish shows the frequencies of spontaneous mutations similar to rodents and respond to mutagen exposure consistent with known mutagenic mechanisms. The feasibility of in vivo mutation analysis using transgenic fish has been demonstrated and the potential value of transgenic fish as a comparative animal model has been illustrated. Therefore, the transgenic fish can give the significant contribution to study the environmental toxicity in animals as a whole.