SCIENTISTS TINKERING WITH BASS.Byline: Ray Sasser Dallas Morning News Over in Scotland, scientists cloned a sheep and opened a can of genetically identical worms. The ethical questions raised cannot be answered by Mother Nature. In sprawling vistas of the Texas Hill Country, suntanned sun·tan n. A tan color on the skin resulting from exposure to the sun. sun  tanned ranchers are wondering why anyone would want to clone a sheep, since they all look pretty much alike to begin with. South Central Texas has historically been the state's sheep and goat farming capital. It's also an unlikely hotbed hotbed, low, glass-covered frame structure for starting tender plants. It differs from a cold frame only in that the soil is heated—either artificially as by underground electric wiring or steampipes, or naturally with partially fermented stable manure, which for fisheries research. Heart of the Hills Research Station, Texas Parks and Wildlife's primary fisheries research facility, is tucked away in a scenic bend of Johnson Creek Johnson Creek may refer to:
At this tranquil spot, state biologists already have separated dumb bass from smart ones and have created a bass with an extra set of chromosomes. Can a bass clone be far behind? ``It's an interesting possibility,'' said Dick Luebke, the department's research program director. ``Cloning appears to be a potentially attractive tool that may have a place in future fisheries management. Of course, cloning is the ultimate in inbreeding inbreeding, mating of closely related organisms. Inbreeding is chiefly used as a means of insuring the preservation of specific desired traits among the offspring of purebred animals (see breeding). , and you've got to be careful how you use it.'' For all intents and purposes Adv. 1. for all intents and purposes - in every practical sense; "to all intents and purposes the case is closed"; "the rest are for all practical purposes useless" for all practical purposes, to all intents and purposes , a clone is a carbon copy of the original chromosome donor. At the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, state biologists are working with mammoth bass. They're hoping to use huge broodfish to spawn a race of superbass. In any bass population, only a tiny percentage have the genetic potential to attain giant sizes. Those fish are as statistically rare as humans who grow to be 6-foot-5 or larger. The bass in the state program weigh at least 13 pounds and are donated by anglers. The lunkers have demonstrated abnormal growth potential. That potential is diluted, however, when the giant female bass is crossed with a male bass. Biologists can stack the deck Stack the Deck is a pricing game on The Price Is Right. Debuting on October 9, 2006, it is played for a car. Gameplay The contestant is shown seven digits, in the style of playing cards, and five spaces representing the price of the car. by using the largest male brooders they can find, but even big bass carry genes for small growth. If scientists can take a huge bass and simply clone the fish without introducing outside genetics, won't the clones all have the potential to reach 20 pounds? ``We're not sure,'' Luebke said, ``but the clone would be closer to the original fish than any offspring you would get by crossbreeding crossbreeding /cross·breed·ing/ (-bred-ing) hybridization; the mating of organisms of different strains or species. crossbreeding hybridization; the mating of organisms of different strains or species, e.g. .'' In an effort to create larger fish, Gary Garrett has altered the genetics of bass at Heart of the Hills. Through laboratory manipulation, Garrett created a bass with an extra set of chromosomes. Most animals have two sets of chromosomes, one contributed by the father and one by the mother. ``Our theory with the triploid triploid /trip·loid/ (trip´loid) having triple the haploid number of chromosomes (3n). trip·loid adj. Having three times the haploid number of chromosomes in the cell nucleus. n. (three sets of chromosomes) bass was that a fish with extra cells would be genetically programmed to grow larger,'' Graham said. |
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