“This indicates that the discharge from the electric eel promoted gene transfer to the cells,” Iida said, “even though eels have different shapes of pulse and unstable voltage compared to machines usually used in electroporation. Zebra moray eel (Gymnomuraena zebra) Possibly the second most common aquarium eel is the zebra moray eel (G ymnomuraena zebra ) named for its obvious black and white alternating stripes. Control group fish in the same solution, but without the eel shock, didn’t exhibit the glow at all. The team enticed the eel to bite a feeder, discharging a volt of electricity into the water filled with zebra fish and the DNA solution.įollowing the experiment, the team discovered that 5 percent of the larvae had the green, fluorescent glow that marked a gene transfer in their tissue. To test the theory, the team took young zebra fish and plopped them in a DNA solution featuring a glowing protein marker. “I realized that electric eels in the Amazon River could well act as a power source, organisms living in the surrounding area could act as recipient cells, and environmental DNA fragments released into the water would become foreign genes, causing genetic recombination in the surrounding organisms because of electric discharge,” Atsuo Iida, professor and an author on the study, said in a statement. An Aquarium's Electric Eel Makes Christmas Magic.A study from researchers at Nagoya University in Japan turned the eel on zebra fish to show off the phenomena and published the results in the journal PeerJ–Life and Environment.

Instead, the world’s biggest power-making creature can use its voltage to genetically modify small fish larvae all on its own. But the electric eel doesn’t need a laboratory. This invites molecules into the target cell, and DNA or proteins can slide right through the cell’s protective layer. When done in a laboratory, the gene-delivery technique known as electroporation uses an electric field to temporarily create pores in cell membranes. The Zebra Eel grows large and is a voracious eater, so ensure that the filtration/protein skimming is very efficient, with areas of brisk water movement and. Just check on the zebra fish in a recent Japanese experiment to see it in action. The 860 volts of charge that an electric eel can produce in a shock is enough to change the genetic makeup of fish around it. Researchers aren’t sure if this process has actually contributed to gene transfer in the wild, but the eels certainly seem to have the capacity to incite genetic change.But research now shows that eels can do it naturally. The process, dubbed electroporation, is a known gene delivery technique in laboratories.An electric eel can discharge 860 volts in a shock, which is apparently enough to open pores in the cell membranes of fish larvae and invite in new genes.

Zebra eel