Zebrafish Could Replace Lab Mice.

• Position: Proteomic research

Scientists at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., have developed a technique that allows zebrafish to pass genetic modifications to its offspring, a discovery that could lead to researchers being able to study genes and proteins in a less-expensive way. The two-inch, black-striped zebrafish is quickly becoming famous in the scientific world as the best animal to use when studying genetics--even better than the mouse.

"Because zebrafish are relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain compared to genetically modified mice, this discovery could greatly accelerate new genetic experiments in vertebrates," suggests Randy Woodson, director of Purdue's Office of Agricultural Research Programs. These experiments could provide information into Alzheimer's, heart disease, certain types of cancer, and other ailments.

The zebrafish is an essential tool to a new branch of science called proteomics, also sometimes known as post-genomics. Proteomics refers to the study of an organism's proteins, just as genomics refers to the study of an organism's genetic material. Proteomics is a natural follow-up to the mapping of various organisms' genomes, including the human genome. "With the human genome project, they're sequencing genes, and each of those genes causes the body to produce various proteins at different times," explains Paul Collodi, associate professor of animal sciences and primary investigator on the research project. "If you want to understand what the genes actually do, you have to study the function of the proteins they produce, and the zebrafish makes a nice model for that....

"With mice, you have maybe a dozen embryos to work with, and you have to do surgery to transplant the embryos back into the mother. Compare that to the zebrafish embryo where we can modify 100 embryos an hour, and, because the embryos develop outside the mother, we don't have to do surgery. The entire developmental...