Extraordinary mullet growth through direct injection of foreign DNA

Abstract

The present study aims to produce a genetically modified grey mullet, Mugil cephalus, with accelerated growth through direct injection of foreign DNA isolated from the liver of shark (Squalus acanthias L.) or African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) into muscles of fingerlings fish at the dose of 40 μg/fish. The results show a significant (P≤0.05) improvement in most of the growth performance and body composition parameters of genetically modified grey mullet fingerlings injected with shark DNA compared to both genetically modified grey mullet injected with catfish DNA and the control fish, while the results of feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) indicate that fish injected with shark DNA or catfish DNA had significant (P≤0.05) superiority compared to their control. The results of the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting show highly genetic polymorphic percentage among grey mullet that received foreign DNA and their control using different random primers. This may be due to some fragments of foreign DNA randomly integrated into grey mullet genome. Therefore, the result indicates a possible easy and rapid way for improving fish characteristics.

Keywords: Grey mullet, growth, foreign DNA, genetically modified