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AquAdvantage salmon

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AquAdvantage Salmon

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Genetically-modified salmon approved by FDA

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Genetically modified salmon to hit U.S. markets

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About AquaBounty Salmon

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AquaBounty Technologies AquAdvantage Salmon!

AquAdvantage salmon is a genetically modified (GM) Atlantic salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies. A growth hormone-regulating gene from a Pacific Chinook salmon, with a promoter from an ocean pout, was added to the Atlantic salmon's 40,000 genes. This gene enables it to grow year-round instead of only during spring and summer. The purpose of the modifications is to increase the speed at which the fish grows without affecting its ultimate size or other qualities. The fish grows to market size in 16 to 18 months rather than three years. The latter figure refers to varieties whose growth rate has already been improved by 2:1 as a result of traditional selective breeding. Conventional salmon growers publicly challenged the claimed growth rates. Transgenic salmon are a safe alternative to wild salmon, and are a sustainable food source. The AquaBountry’s AquAdvantage was created in 1989 by injecting Atlantic salmon, with a gene consisting of growth hormone cDNA from Chinook salmon that is regulated with promoter sequences that acts as an antifreeze protein from an Ocean Pout. The protein sequence comparison of a Chinook and Atlantic Salmon show 95% (198/210) of the amino acids are identical, 98% (205/210) of the amino acids are similar and 0% gaps. A nucleotide BLAST comparison of the Chinook and Atlantic Salmon growth hormone from the Ocean Pout found 90% (1013/1126) of the nucleotides were identical and only 6% gaps (70/1126). The stability of the new DNA construct was tested vigorously revealing no evidence of mutational effects during insertion. The new animal was backcrossed to wild-type Atlantic salmon, and the EO-1ɑ gene sequence was identical in the second through fourth generations, indicating that the insertion is stable and a safe GE Salmon was created.