If you’re a fan of National Geographic you’ll be familiar with their human genome project. Together with IBM NG are mapping the movement through time of our global civilization from our earliest ancestors, African “Adam & Eve”. They use genetic markers which are evolutionary changes in an organism’s DNA that can be tracked through it’s descendants. It’s a fascinating project in which you yourself can get involved by sending off for a DNA testing kit.
Genome Canada, “The Atlantic Cod Story” is a similar project. Its purpose is not to track migration patterns but to develop an understanding of of better breeding in Atlantic Cod. I like the idea as it’s not about GM but about using genetic information to improve natural breeding results.
Here’s a link to the project;
http://www.genomecanada.ca/en/info/fisheries/atlantic.aspx
One aquaculture specialist, Nell Halse, explains the project best,
“It takes several generations of breeding to produce the best stock. By working with our partners in this genomics project, we’ll be able to identify ‘markers’ on the fish DNA that will pinpoint specific traits. This will allow us to increase the accuracy of our breeding program, making it much more efficient.”
Sean
