Research Suggests Breeding Works as Well as Genetic Engineering

LA Times 15feb01

Genetic engineering may not be any more effective than conventional breeding at increasing the growth of farmed trout, according to Canadian researchers. Molecular biologist Robert Devlin and his colleagues at Fisheries and Oceans Canada inserted the gene for a growth hormone into a slow-growing strain of rainbow trout and found that the engineered fish grew much more rapidly. But, they report in today's Nature, the engineered trout grew no faster or larger than those bred conventionally for fast growth. And adding the growth hormone gene to the latter strain produced no increased growth.