The delivery of foreign genes into fertilized fish eggs using high-velocity microprojectiles.

Fertilized eggs of loach (Misgurnus fossilis), rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) and zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio) were bombarded with high-velocity tungsten microprojectiles covered with plasmid DNA containing sequences of beta-galactosidase and neomycin phosphotransferase genes. About 70% of the eggs survived the bombardment. The activity of both transferred genes was revealed in the fish developed from the bombarded eggs. Neomycin phosphotransferase gene sequences were detected by means of PCR amplification and Southern hybridization in the total DNA of zebrafish that survived after G418 treatment.