Transfection of red fluorescence protein gene in goldfish

By Development Communication

Can one deliver a gene into a fish cell and get this expressed successfully? Yes, according to Dr. Casiano Choresca Jr. when he visited SEAFDEC/AQD on 9 January 2014. He described his work on “Transfection of the red fluorescent protein gene in the goldfish caudal fin-derived somatic fibroblasts cells” which is part of his Ph.D. dissertation done at the Seoul National University’s Laboratory of Aquatic Biomedicine, College of Veterinary Medicine in Korea.

Transfection is the process of deliberately introducing nucleic acids into cells. Using goldfish Carassius auratus, Dr. Choresca determined (1) the expression of red fluorescent protein gene caudal fin primary cells and (2) the transfection efficiency of plasmid DNA using DSRed Express 2 to various Fugene HD transfection reagent ratios. PCR results confirmed that the transfected cells were positive for the protein, and that the reagent ratio of 1:6 (DNA:Fugene HD) worked best.

Dr. Choresca is currently a faculty of the graduate school at the Iloilo State College of Fisheries in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.