GMO Ts!!!

Tenebrarius

Arachnoangel
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Sep 8, 2018
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912
sup arachnofamily, today I come with something crazy to think of, you all know about the GMO animals like glowing mice, cats, monkeys, axolotl. well as someone who once made E. coli glow by "injecting"(cellular shocking) pGlo plasmids into them. Inside was a supporter or whatever it was called, it was just a genetic antibiotic resistance to make sure only the glowing ones would live. I have seen some micro injections and with recombination its fairly simple. take egg. inject. it glow.(of course there's a probability to it) now Ts have been getting pretty popular, being sold in pet stores a lot with balls(pythons). now this is NOT an ethics thread just a discussion of what might be. Now the GFP gene and other bioluminescent genes are cool and all but likely wouldn't so up well in Ts since they have carapace and chitin(and hair reduces visibility). maybe their joints would glow. but here is what I propose: scorpion genes, yes scorpions glow on their carapace and chitin from some weird chemical they excrete i think its called beta carboline, and with this cardbordiom stuff there would be glowing Ts.
AGAIN NOT AN ETHICS THREAD
TL;DR: what do you think of GMOs and possible GMO Ts? what is your theory of a GMO T?
here's this one I produced at home he's very polite Screen Shot 2018-11-08 at 6.32.01 PM.png
 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
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Since this is purely for fun, I've moved it to the chat section. Any inflammatory posts will be removed. Have fun in this thread or move on - those are your options.

AGAIN NOT AN ETHICS THREAD
Couldn't have said it better myself.
 

Marvinxox

Arachnoknight
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Aug 5, 2017
Messages
158
Well, as far as I know scorpions primarily glow under UV-light because of the micro-structure of their carapace. Altough (as far as I´m informed) we don´t know what exactly is responsible for this glowing and I think that it wouldn´t really be possible to implement the genes that influence a scorpions "Surface texture" into a tarantula, that would be quite complicated as it would require us to completely decifer the DNA of a scorpion and then to decifer the DNA of every tarantula you´d want to implement the "glow-genes" into.
So it would require lots of work to first find the necessairy genes and then even more to implement the genes into the right spot.
I don´t really think that it would be financially intelligent for any company to produce such glowing Ts.
(And if you now thik about the glow fish as a example of other glowing pet animals, please know that they first were produced to help scientists as easy indicators for certain water perimeters and not as pets.)

Also it would be quite hard to include this DNA into a egg-cell of a tarantula, as it´s best to include the "extra genes" into sperm and then have the cell be impregnated by already modified sperm rather than trying to modify a already living and growing fetus. As tarantulas have internal impregnation that process would be way harder than working with something like fish, who have external impregnation.

So that´s just my thoughts on the topic. If I´m wrong about something, please correct me, as I´m not 100% sure about everything. And if some wordings don´t fit the correct scientific terms, then please forgive me, I study biology in german, so my "biology english" still needs some improvement.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
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Messages
2,217
Well, as far as I know scorpions primarily glow under UV-light because of the micro-structure of their carapace. Altough (as far as I´m informed) we don´t know what exactly is responsible for this glowing and I think that it wouldn´t really be possible to implement the genes that influence a scorpions "Surface texture" into a tarantula, that would be quite complicated as it would require us to completely decifer the DNA of a scorpion and then to decifer the DNA of every tarantula you´d want to implement the "glow-genes" into.
So it would require lots of work to first find the necessairy genes and then even more to implement the genes into the right spot.
I don´t really think that it would be financially intelligent for any company to produce such glowing Ts.
(And if you now thik about the glow fish as a example of other glowing pet animals, please know that they first were produced to help scientists as easy indicators for certain water perimeters and not as pets.)

Also it would be quite hard to include this DNA into a egg-cell of a tarantula, as it´s best to include the "extra genes" into sperm and then have the cell be impregnated by already modified sperm rather than trying to modify a already living and growing fetus. As tarantulas have internal impregnation that process would be way harder than working with something like fish, who have external impregnation.

So that´s just my thoughts on the topic. If I´m wrong about something, please correct me, as I´m not 100% sure about everything. And if some wordings don´t fit the correct scientific terms, then please forgive me, I study biology in german, so my "biology english" still needs some improvement.
Not really. There's this gene for Green Fluorescent Protein that has been injected into about anything, including human cells. It's used as a reporter gene - you attach it to the gene you want to study to have something that's easily visible so you can verify that your experiment has worked. If you want to have the thing in a whole animal you really need to extract the egg cells and inject it there - sperm doesn't work, at least not to my knowledge but I've been out of that for a few years. I'd think it would be comparably easy with tarantulas - take the eggs the moment they are laid, inject them, put them back with the rest, and let the tarantula mom do the work of raising them.

I've actually done it, at least in cells... :D
 

FrDoc

Gen. 1:24-25
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Not really. There's this gene for Green Fluorescent Protein that has been injected into about anything, including human cells. It's used as a reporter gene - you attach it to the gene you want to study to have something that's easily visible so you can verify that your experiment has worked. If you want to have the thing in a whole animal you really need to extract the egg cells and inject it there - sperm doesn't work, at least not to my knowledge but I've been out of that for a few years. I'd think it would be comparably easy with tarantulas - take the eggs the moment they are laid, inject them, put them back with the rest, and let the tarantula mom do the work of raising them.

I've actually done it, at least in cells... :D
She's awesome, Huh?
 

Marvinxox

Arachnoknight
Joined
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Messages
158
Not really. There's this gene for Green Fluorescent Protein that has been injected into about anything, including human cells. It's used as a reporter gene - you attach it to the gene you want to study to have something that's easily visible so you can verify that your experiment has worked. If you want to have the thing in a whole animal you really need to extract the egg cells and inject it there - sperm doesn't work, at least not to my knowledge but I've been out of that for a few years. I'd think it would be comparably easy with tarantulas - take the eggs the moment they are laid, inject them, put them back with the rest, and let the tarantula mom do the work of raising them.

I've actually done it, at least in cells... :D
Oh, okay then I was wrong about that.
I know about the green flourescent Protein, that´s even used in some science kits, but I wasn´t sure, if it could also be used to make a tarantulas carapace glow, as I only saw it being used in vertebrates (especially various types of fish and some mice), Bacteria and fungi, but not in invertebrates. So I assumed that this Protein might not work with T´s (and other hard-shelled organisms) and might need to be replaced by the same type of "mechianism" that makes scorpions respond to UV-light.

Would it need to be injected into a already fertilised cell or into one that´s not yet fertilised? Because if it´s the latter then it wouldn´t matter too much, if it´s a "glow-sperm" or a "glow-egg cell", wouldn´t it?
I´m really curious as we touched the subject of genetic modification just shortly in my genetics-class, so by now I´m not too versed in this topic.
 

RhysKawk

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 26, 2018
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How does this so called glowy protein affect the animal in this case a T if it was ever done? Is there much research to show it changes anything other than the fact it glows. I presume this is purely a cosmetic application?

I've seen alot of new breakthroughs in genetics in the recent years and one that caught my eye was ''designer babies", basically genetic modification could be used to chose desireable traits and characteristics in children. Imagine being able to put this application to use with T's:bookworm: T's with certain characteristics such as changes in colour, size, leg length, hair length maybe even producing some new type of GM T never before seen. The possibilities are endless on paper.
Thoughts anyone?
 

boina

Lady of the mites
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Would it need to be injected into a already fertilised cell or into one that´s not yet fertilised? Because if it´s the latter then it wouldn´t matter too much, if it´s a "glow-sperm" or a "glow-egg cell", wouldn´t it?
Transfection (i.e. transport of genes into a cell) works by getting a plasmid into the cytoplasm of a cell and then let the cell do the rest with the help of some genetic instructions provided by the plasmid. Since a sperm cell has no cytoplasm or metabolism to speak of it doesn't work. And for the exoskelton to glow you'd need to get the GFP attached to the chitin producing genes, or better to the genes for some proteins in the exoskeleton - that might actually be a bit tricky since you can't alter the chitin structure too much.

How does this so called glowy protein affect the animal in this case a T if it was ever done? Is there much research to show it changes anything other than the fact it glows. I presume this is purely a cosmetic application?

I've seen alot of new breakthroughs in genetics in the recent years and one that caught my eye was ''designer babies", basically genetic modification could be used to chose desireable traits and characteristics in children. Imagine being able to put this application to use with T's:bookworm: T's with certain characteristics such as changes in colour, size, leg length, hair length maybe even producing some new type of GM T never before seen. The possibilities are endless on paper.
Thoughts anyone?
GFP (green fluorescent protein) got so incredibly popular because it's a small protein that doesn't really interact with anything, meaning you can get it anywhere and it will glow happily without affecting its surroundings. If you use it by itself it's purely cosmetic but you usually use it in combination with something else - lets say you want to get another gene into a cell. How do you know your gene really got into the cell and works? You attach GFP to it. If the cell then glows you know it doesn't only contain the GFP but also the gene you want to research.

The problem with the second point - designer babies or designer Ts - is that for the most genes we don't really know exactly what they are doing. One gene usually doesn't have only one function but many. You can easily see that in some inherited disorders: one single mutation in one single gene cause a plethora of body functions to go wrong. Examples are Tay-Sachs disease and cystic fibrosis, but there are many more. It isn't that easy to know what gene to modify in what way to get the result you want. While we can modify any gene we want we really have no way of knowing yet what gene it is that we want to modify to get a specific result. Things can go really, horribly wrong...
 

Greasylake

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Jul 23, 2017
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well as someone who once made E. coli glow by "injecting"(cellular shocking) pGlo plasmids into them
Did that my senior year of high school, it was pretty fun having a class full of glow-in-the-dark petri dishes.
 

RhysKawk

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 26, 2018
Messages
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How do you know your gene really got into the cell and works? You attach GFP to it. If the cell then glows you know it doesn't only contain the GFP but also the gene you want to research.
Ahhh, learn something new everyday, so was it solely developed almost as a successful gene marker/indicator or did they just really feel like making cells glow and then later realised it's use:D

It would be interesting to see what comes from the world of genetic engineering in the coming years if itl ever be possible to single out specific traits from genes as I mentioned before (if it even is possible at all). I do agree with your last point though, we could end up with a monstrosity.:vamp:
 

boina

Lady of the mites
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Did that my senior year of high school, it was pretty fun having a class full of glow-in-the-dark petri dishes.
Oh sigh. In my day it was reserved for the serious scientist only :doctor:. Now I feel really, really old :oldman::dead:.

:troll:
 

Tenebrarius

Arachnoangel
Joined
Sep 8, 2018
Messages
912
The genes don't produce light.

GMO T what a bad idea.
no but they produce the proteins that do(and yes some take a enzyme as well) so, let me correct myself bioluminescent protein genes o_O

So that´s just my thoughts on the topic. If I´m wrong about something, please correct me, as I´m not 100% sure about everything. And if some wordings don´t fit the correct scientific terms, then please forgive me, I study biology in german, so my "biology english" still needs some improvement.
ha ha, yes I underhand the complications I just thought it would be fun though RIP, I understand that getting the eggs at first cell stage is difficult and and zebra fish are extremely simple at it since they fertilize outside the body. also someone did this to a rabbit as an art thing, and I also saw this guy cure his lactose intolerance using a virus to infect is digestive tract.

Did that my senior year of high school, it was pretty fun having a class full of glow-in-the-dark petri dishes.
not to brag but I did this for fun as a freshman in high school, it was super fun got me hooked so I stared watching lectures, and reading case studies and research papers, lost the time to focus on it ever since I started college and Im trying to walk out with a job so Im learning coding(web development(back ends cause thats where the money is)

Ahhh, learn something new everyday, so was it solely developed almost as a successful gene marker/indicator or did they just really feel like making cells glow and then later realised it's use:D

It would be interesting to see what comes from the world of genetic engineering in the coming years if itl ever be possible to single out specific traits from genes as I mentioned before (if it even is possible at all). I do agree with your last point though, we could end up with a monstrosity.:vamp:
spider-man? lol just kidding. but with (human)insulin producing bacteria you can give it a promoter like antibiotic resistance gene so only your insulin producing group will live. I feel like things like genetic modification and crispr cas9 are fairly misunderstood, I mean we are just basically taking the "immune system" of a bacteria and using it for our advantage/study honestly its awesome.

Oh sigh. In my day it was reserved for the serious scientist only :doctor:. Now I feel really, really old :oldman::dead:.

:troll:
doing it just became really cheap thats the real difference. money influences science in the saddest way...good thing for grants and stuff I guess.
 
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