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Point 1: Quantum dots are ludicrously
fluorescent, and are almost ideal
fluorophores. The absorb light over a
wide spectrum, and can be 'tuned' to emit
light at any wavelength (as long as it's
longer than the excitation wavelength,
obviously). They're also fairly non-toxic
(or can be
rendered inert with a coating),
don't degrade, and don't photobleach.
Point 2: Many aquarium fish are largely
transparent, as are most shrimps, some
anemones and other creatures.
Point C: Many fish will eat almost
anything.
So. Make fish-food which contains
quantum dots. Fish eat food. Fish
become fluorescent. Most of the
fluorescence will probably be confined to
the gut, and will pass out with the
droppings. However, it's quite likely that
the q-dots will be taken up by the
intestinal epithelium (they're about the
size of a small protein molecule), and they
may even be transported to other
locations in the body.
If your fish have different eating habits,
you have the option to label different fish
with distinct colours.
Yes, I know that genetically modified
fluorescent zebrafish are a more
permanent solution to your fluorescent
fish cravings. However, you can't buy a
fluorescent knife-fish or a dayglo prawn.
But now you can make one!
GloFu (tm) is available from MaxCo.
Happy Fish Food, Inc.
Quantum dots
http://www.evidenttech.com/
[MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 13 2007]
Fluorescent zebrafish
http://www.glofish.com/
Made the boring way. [MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 13 2007]
[link]
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Why do your points go 1, 2, C? |
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Lovely idea - I especially like the whole "label different fish with different colours" thing. |
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By goodness, I've been looking for a tunable fluorophore. Thanks! |
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Feed an electric eel on EL particles .... ? |
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//By goodness, I've been looking for a
tunable fluorophore.// You have?
Intrigued. Incidentally, they can be "tuned"
at the time of manufacture, but not
subsequently. They're basically
nanocrystals which behave a single unit,
and their emission wavelength depends on
the number of atoms in the nanocrystal. |
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//Incidentally, they can be "tuned" at the time of manufacture...// |
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umm... so you could make a quantum dot "mirror" that took broad-spectrum sunlight and reflected all of it's energy as, say... chlorophyll absorption spectra (blue/red/IR) ? |
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Hmmm. Probably not quite, but sort of.
Suppose you want to emit at 700nm (I
have no idea - this is just a guess). You
could make a solution of qDots (or coat
a surface with them) which would
absorb all components of sunlight at
longer wavelengths, and re-emit it as
700nm fluorescence. I'm not sure what
the energy efficiency would be, but the
quantum yield for qdots is pretty high. |
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You can't use this to convert longer
wavelengths to shorter, though. |
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An alternative would be to make little glass bulbs filled with qDots; these are attached to thin titanium needles or hooks. The fish is then pierced in aesthetically pleasing yet physically undamaging areas. This would allow your investment of qDots (and they are not cheap) to be retained for longer, and it would allow your fish to be fashionably hip. |
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Yep,they cloned cats that glow red when exposed to ultraviolet rays.I wish they could do this with dog shit, it would prevent me from stepping in it on these dark gloomy mornings. At least when dog poop was white you could see it. |
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Perhaps these could be fused with different protiens and such, so tha they are taken throughout the body, possibly even to specific parts for multicolor fish. |
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//Perhaps these could be fused with
different proteins and such// Not so
simple. If you make Qdot-labelled
proteins and feed them to the fish, the
protein component will be digested
before it gets very far. You might be
able to couple the dots to some kind of
small molecule which would be targeted
tissue-specifically, but I'm not sure this
would work. If you want multicolour
fish, you're better off creating a GM fish
with different forms of GFP (a naturally
fluoresecent protein - now available in
different colours) spliced in the the
genes for various tissue-specific
endogenous proteins. |
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Goldfish: "What about EMS recombination ?" |
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Maxwell: "We've already tried it. Ethyl methane sulfonate as an alkylating agent, a potent mutagen - It created a virus so lethal the subject was dead before he left the tank." |
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Goldfish: "Then a repressive protein that blocks the operating cells ?" |
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Maxwell: "Wouldn't obstruct replication, but it does give rise to an error in replication, so that the newly formed DNA strand carries the mutation and you've got a virus again. But, uh, this-- all of this is academic. You were made as well as we could make you ...." |
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Goldfish: "But not to last. " |
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Maxwell: "The fish that shines twice as bright shines half as long. And you have shone so very very brightly .........." |
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<Goldfish crushes Maxwell's skull> |
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Maxwell: "...and I have given you the
power to speak!" |
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Goldfish: "Yes but....what were we talking
about? My memory...tsk!" |
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