Japan is one of the world’s biggest consumers of aquatic food products. The Japanese people love eating fish.
Declining prices due to overproduction and imports al so affected Japan’s fish consumption, prompting fishermen and the government to create new seafood products using advanced scientific tools, such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats gene-editing technology. It has been confirmed that it does not adversely affect biodiversity. Earlier in September, a genome-edited tomato with increased gamma-aminobutyric acid content was also approved for commercial sale.Red sea bream is a prized fish in Japan. It is considered the “king of fish’ in the country because of its elegant appearance, color, and superior taste.
The genome-edited fish was developed using CRISPR gene editing technology to knock out a protein that suppresses muscle growth. Regional Fish Co. Ltd., together with the Kyoto University and Kindai University, developed a genome-edited tiger puffer fish using CRISPR.Out of the torafugu’s 400 million genes, the scientists removed four leptin receptor genes that control appetite, boosting their appetite and weight gain.
After selling 290 packages of the genome-edited torafugu in the trial, Regional Fish has put as many as 2,000 packages per month up for online sales.Earlier in September 2021, Sanatech Seed, a Japanese company founded with the goal of using the latest innovative technology to improve crops and protect tomorrow’s children and planet, announced the commercial sales of “Sicilian Rouge High Gaba,” the genome-edited tomatoes with increased gamma-aminobutyric acid .