Innovative gene silencing biotechnology developed at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for the service of aquaculture in Vietnam

This is the first practical use of its kind in the world in gene silencing technology in aquaculture. The development is based on the discovery, at Ben-Gurion University, of an insulin-like androgenic hormone that controls the sexual differentiation of aquatic crabs

Prof. Amir Sagi. Photo: Danny Machlis, Ben-Gurion University
Prof. Amir Sagi. Photo: Danny Machlis, Ben-Gurion University

Today, Wednesday, November 21, 2012, there will be a signing ceremony in Vietnam for an agreement between the Israeli company Tiran and the Vietnamese company Advances Green for the use of an innovative technology developed by a group of researchers at Ben-Gurion University and which will promote the aquaculture sector in Vietnam using the populations of all Males to increase the yield of water crab farmers in the Mekong River Delta.

At a ceremony to be held in the city of Can Tu, which is the largest of the Mekong Delta cities, Prof. Amir Sagi will present the new technology developed in his laboratory, and it will be held in the presence of representatives of farmers, the economic attaché at the Israeli Embassy, ​​the governors of the provinces in the Mekong Delta, the managers of the GA company and the manager of the Tiran Group, Haim Abiauz.

This is the first applied use of gene silencing technology in aquaculture in the world. The development is based on the discovery, at Ben-Gurion University, of an insulin-like androgenic hormone that controls the sexual differentiation of aquatic crayfish. The discovered process was registered as a patent by the university's application company, B.G. technologies, and is licensed for commercialization to the Tiran company. The technology fits the green trend in agricultural applications in that it does not use hormones or chemicals, and does not cause genetic modifications (non GMO).

Amir Sagi serves as a professor in the Department of Life Sciences at Ben-Gurion University and a member ofThe National Institute of Biotechnology in the Negev.

 

3 תגובות

  1. It's really a question if the crab breeders are only interested in male crabs and why. What's more, it would be good if they found a technique to control the mating ratio in poultry. That way tens of thousands of male chicks didn't have to be killed by suffocation.

  2. Good luck
    Can someone please explain to me the connection between all-male populations, to increasing the yield of the water crab farms?

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