Similar methods have been used to enhance carp, tilapia, catfish and other aquatic animals, including oysters. Other researchers are experimenting with different ways of using CRISPR to enhance disease resistance or to breed salmon that produce more omega-3 fatty acids.
You won’t find CRISPR animal products on supermarket shelves.but some are very close. 2021, Japan approves sale of two CRISPR-edited fish. One of these is fortified red sea bream. The other, the Tiger Blowfish, was also designed to be heavier.
The researchers behind the genetically modified catfish hope they can approve it for commercial production in the United States. But this may take a while. So far, only one gene-edited fish has been approved for sale in the United States — and it took decades to get to that point.
This fish, the AquAdvantage salmon, has been genetically modified to grow larger. As a result, 25 percent less feed is needed to grow these salmon to a marketable size, says Sylvia Wulf, CEO and president of AquaBounty.
The company produced its first genetically modified fish in 1992. But it won’t hit the U.S. market until 2021. “For a start-up company founded in 1991, it took more than 30 years to bring its innovative Atlantic salmon to market, costing more than $100 million,” Wulf said.
There is a similar timeline for the approval of gene-edited pigs. In 2001, PPL Therapeutics (now known as Revivalist) created genetically modified pigs that lack a sugar called alpha-gal. The company’s main goal is to use the pigs to grow organs that can be transplanted into humans, whose immune systems might reject organs that contain the sugar in their cells.
But in 2020, the FDA approved the animals for human consumption.These gene-edited pork products, which are said to be likely safe for people with alpha-gal allergies, will initially only be available by mail order FDA press release.
It’s hard to predict how quickly CRISPR animals will move through the U.S. approval process. But they are on their way.
