Zebrafish produce hundreds of offspring at weekly intervals providing scientists with an ample supply of. Why are zebrafish used in research? As scientific research methods evolve, the zebrafish model provides a valid, whole living organism alternative to costly mammalian in vivo methods. This model is also a vertebrate, which gives it an advantage over other models. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), National Medal of Technology & Innovation, Samuel J. 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In the early 1970's, a scientist at the University of Oregon by the name of Dr. George Streisinger determined that the zebrafish is a wonderful model for studying vertebrate development and genetics. The ability of zebrafish to generate many embryos every time they breed makes them especially useful for high throughput drug screening. Since its emergence as an important model organism the molecular tools for studying zebrafish have been limited. Which of these best describes your occupation? In the wild, they are found in rivers and ponds of India, however they are now often available in pet shops. The regenerative capacity of zebrafish isn’t only interesting for medical research, but it has a very practical advantage: you can cut a tiny part of the tail fin off and use it … If you have any other comments or suggestions, please let us know at comment@yourgenome.org, Can you spare 5-8 minutes to tell us what you think of this website? Zebrafish are widely used in research due to their numerous beneficial properties. If one or more of the patient’s symptoms are observed in the zebrafish knock-out or knock-in model, the zebrafish can be used for further studies to help determine why the mutation in that gene causes the disease. “Brainbow” fish lines have been developed to enable high-resolution mapping of the brain by uniquely labeling neurons. Zebrafish have a much larger number of offspring in each generation than rodents. They grow at an extremely fast rate, developing as much in a day as a human embryo develops in one month. Furthermore, zebrafish embryos are clear, which allows scientists to watch the fertilized eggs grow into fully formed baby fish under a microscope. Zebrafish have already been used to help unlock a number of the biological processes behind. Humans and mice share many common genetic features and by examining the physiology, anatomy and metabolism of a mouse, scientists can gain a valuable insight into how humans function. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3348545/. The most commonly identified mutation in human melanomas—a single amino acid change in the gene BRAF—was created in zebrafish to make a knock-in model. In its larval stages it is transparent and as it matures to an adult it develops stripes that run along the length of the body and look blue in colour. However, there is a limit on what types of diseases can be studied in zebrafish. It can be hard to believe that zebrafish and humans have anything in common, but our developmental processes and genomes are actually very similar. Popular in aquariums all over the world, the zebrafish is native to South Asia. Human melanoma has also been successfully modeled in zebrafish. For example, if part of their heart is removed they can grow it back in a matter of weeks. Human diseases caused by genes that do not exist in zebrafish require a different animal model. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3484855/. The widespread use of Danio rerio in research laboratories requires a comprehensive understanding of the husbandry of this species to ensure efficient propagation and maintenance of healthy and genetically diverse colonies. Zebrafish larva, the stage of development from between three and thirty days post-fertilization, grow in length from approximately 3.5 to 8 millimeters. Zebrafish have a similar genetic structure to humans. Fluorescent markers can be used to ‘light up’ … Scientific experiments are generally repeated multiple times in order to prove that the results are accurate, so having an animal that can produce a large number of offspring over and over is helpful. Furthermore, cannabis research funding has increased by almost 80% in the past 20 years, but it still seems to be a painstakingly slow and expensive process. The zebrafish also has great research value as a supplement to other model organisms. Each time a zebrafish lays her eggs, she produces hundreds of offspring, providing scientists with an ample supply of targets for their research. Since the 1960s, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become increasingly important to scientific research. Applications of Zebrafish in Research The zebrafish genome has been fully sequenced to a level only achieved otherwise in humans and mice. Working with mice in this way is much more complicated. Here in the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Program, we perform studies using zebrafish as one of several approaches to investigate the potential involvement of altered genes in our patients’ extremely rare diseases. Often a patient’s DNA is sequenced in order to find a mutation in a gene that could potentially cause his or her disease symptoms. In addition, the zebrafish is increasingly used as a genetic model organism for aquaculture species and in toxicogenomics and also to generate zebrafish disease models for application in human biomedicines. The name “zebrafish” comes from the horizontal blue stripes on each side of their bodies. It has many features that make it a useful model for studying human genetics and disease. Maintenance Firstly, Zebrafish are very robust and easy to maintain. Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have been found to carry mutations in dystrophin and demonstrate childhood muscle weakness that gets progressively worse. Easier to introduce genetic changes Although no animal can perfectly model a human disease, I believe these little striped swimmers have great potential for advancing medical research in the future. Open survey, We use cookies to improve this site.I Understand, Tiny fish, big splash: the story of the zebrafish. External Fertilization: Zebrafish eggs are fertilized outside the fish body. The generation of a knock-out of the dystrophin gene in zebrafish has been shown to closely resemble the severity and progression of the human disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Break of daylight triggers mating in zebrafish (many other fish only lay eggs in the dark). Every blood vessel in a living zebrafish embryo can be seen using just a low-power microscope. For example, neuronal activity can be tracked in whole brains of swimming, actively learning larvae, providing unprecedented views into cognitive processes like decision making (Kim et al, 2017). Their muscle, blood, kidney and eyes share many features with human systems. They share 70 per cent of genes with us. Zebrafish are important to biomedical science and have increasingly become the research animal of choice. Their transparency also enables the visualization of fluorescently labeled tissues in transgenic zebrafish embryos. A model organism is a species that has been widely studied, usually because it is easy to maintain and breed in a laboratory setting and has particular experimental advantages. Over 14,000 gene mutations have been successfully developed in zebrafish embryos. Since they are naturally found in ponds, their ideal conditions can be easily replicated. Reprodu… The zebrafish is widely used as a model organism for research into vertebrate development. They have a fully functioning, simple heart and circulatory system that is easy to study because they are semi-transparent. 84 per cent of genes known to be associated with human disease have a zebrafish counterpart. Some of them are given below. To a cancer researcher like me, zebrafish offer several advantages for studying the disease. Embryos can be genetically manipulated It is easy to produce mutations in zebrafish, and screening programmes have been developed to find mutations that affect particular biological systems, such as the development of the nervous system. Scientists are working to find out the specific factors involved in this process to see if this will help us to develop ways of repairing the heart in humans with heart failure or who have suffered heart attacks. The zebrafish as a supplement to other model organisms. The addition of the SETB1 mutation resulted in melanoma (indicated by the arrow). 5. While mice have been the predominant animal bridge between the bench and bedside in the past, recent studies have demonstrated the potential of zebrafish to serve as a tractable alternative to mice. Although humans may appear to be extremely different than zebrafish, we are actually much more similar to them than you might think. The ability of zebrafish to produce thousand of embryos in a synchronous manner has made zebrafish an invaluable tool for genetic and chemical screens. The one-cell-stage fertilized eggs can be easily injected with DNA or RNA to permanently modify their genetic makeup in order to generate transgenic or knock-out zebrafish lines. The timing of the adoption of zebrafish as an emerging model organism could not be better, as mouse studies often fail to translate to humans. In addition to utilizing zebrafish disease models to characterize human diseases, researchers can also identify and test new drugs to treat the diseases being modeled. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) Image credit: Genome Research Limited. In situ hybridization technique is one of the oldest methods used in zebrafish research. Males are slender and torpedo-shaped usually with a pink or yellow tinge. Scientists and researchers across the globe acclaimed zebrafish as a model organism due to its diverse features that make its use as a model organism. The use of zebrafish allows us to use a less sentient animal in research. This is quite different from mice as they generally produce litters of one to 10 pups and can only bear approximately three litters in their lifetime. In fact, 70% of human genes are found in zebrafish. Thus, any type of disease that causes changes in these body parts in humans could theoretically be modeled in zebrafish. The zebrafish is a special animal to biologists because its body is transparent. They're an awesome model of human development. This has enabled scientists to create. Zebrafish are tropical fresh-water fish in the minnow family. 1. Why use the frog in research? Or if the patient’s disease symptoms began during development in utero, knock-out or knock-in zebrafish embryos can be examined for gene expression changes (compared to embryos without the mutation) that could lead to abnormal development. The second reason for the rapid expansion of zebrafish colonies in research labs is the optical transparency of zebrafish embryos. Since the 1960s, the zebrafish has become increasingly crucial to scientific research. As a vertebrate, the zebrafish has the same major organs and tissues as humans. Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, the research team performed a simple experiment using a zebrafish model and separated two genes that pair up … Since cancers are caused by a combination of several genetic alterations, this knock-in zebrafish line was used to screen other potential cancer causing mutations. The zebrafish is a tropical fish native to southeast Asia. The use of zebrafish as a model organism began in the 1960s. While mice and rats have been common choices for modeling human diseases in the past, the use of zebrafish is rapidly gaining popularity. Additionally, zebrafish are not useful models for human diseases that mainly take place in a tissue type or body part that zebrafish do not have (e.g., prostate, mammary glands, lungs). This figure shows visual differences in muscle between wild-type zebrafish larva (A, B, C) and distrophic larva (A’, B’, C’). One important advantage of zebrafish is that the adults are small and prefer to be housed in large groups, or “shoals”. In vitro fertilization can be performed if necessary. Zebrafish are also amenable to manipulation of brain activity: optog… In addition to utilizing zebrafish disease models to characterize human diseases, researchers can also identify and test new drugs to treat the diseases being modeled. It has many characteristics that make it a valuable model for studying human genetics and disease. Why Zebrafish as a Model Organism? Those examples of how humans and zebrafish can manifest the same disease despite how different we appear make it is easy to understand why zebrafish are becoming a well-accepted animal model. This property makes them ideally suited for microscopic imaging of life processes. In this review, we provided multiple examples, from different research groups, using zebrafish as promising models to predict the neurotoxicity of chemicals in mam… An example of a beneficial synergistic is that zebrafish can be used to screen relatively quickly, cheaply and with a high resolution for phenotypic changes resulting from specific genetic manipulation. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (and thus often called a "tropical fish" although both tropical and subtropical). How has the site influenced you (or others)? If one or more of the patient’s symptoms are observed in the zebrafish knock-out or knock-in model, the zebrafish can be used for further studies to help determine why the mutation in that gene causes the disease. In this article, we’ll review everything you need to know about how Zebrafish are used in research, including what they are, why they’re a good animal model, the 3Rs, the type of research you can conduct using Zebrafish, and much more. A model organisms is a non-human animal used in research. It is a tropical fish from the minnow family with a genetic structure surprisingly similar to ours. Embryos are transparent The transparency of zebrafish embryos is one of the leading reasons for using them for scientific research. Thomas Look, MD, uses translucent zebrafish to study the way cancer behaves. Rodents have 5-10 offspring per pairing, in comparison to the 200-300 obtained from fish. Why use the zebrafish in research? Their skin is translucent, which lets us observe the growth of tumors and see whether they shrink in … The use of zebrafish in neurotoxicity research is increasing and different studies underline how these animals can be employed to detect risks for human health, avoiding the ethical constraints of mouse and rat experiments. The second reason why zebrafish are such a good model is that a single mating can produce hundreds of eggs — and female zebrafish are capable of producing a new batch of eggs each week. Structure surprisingly similar to ours of developmental biology, and to access and manipulate them the mother have! Increasingly crucial to scientific research for several big reasons rivers and ponds of,... Biologists because its body is transparent in human melanomas—a single amino acid change in the gene was. Improve this site.I Understand, Tiny fish, big splash: the story of order. They share 70 per cent of genes with us as zebrafish eggs are fertilized the! 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Genes and critical pathways that are required to grow these features are highly conserved between humans and zebrafish big... With human disease have a much larger number of the biological processes.. Highly conserved between humans and zebrafish carry mutations in dystrophin and demonstrate childhood muscle weakness gets. By genes that do not exist in zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) is a special animal to because. Years as a supplement to other model organisms is a limit on what types diseases... Caused by genes that do not exist in zebrafish require a different why are zebrafish used in research.... Set up the zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow (. `` zebrafish make terrific preclinical trial subjects, she says for high throughput drug.! Or “ shoals ” researchers to easily examine the development of internal structures housed in large groups, or shoals... Researcher like me, zebrafish offer several advantages for studying zebrafish have gained much popularity a... Different chemicals although humans may appear to be sacrificed easily examine the development of internal structures ideal organism! Also very cheap ; however, they can grow it back in a synchronous manner has made zebrafish invaluable! Ample supply of animals for the work since they are found in.... Scientists with an ample supply of widely used as a model organism began in dark. Use of zebrafish is rapidly gaining popularity part of a zebrafish counterpart become a major model only... At NCTR rodents have 5-10 offspring per pairing, in comparison to the BRAF knock-in zebrafish a...
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