This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I Project will examine the feasibility of long-term preservation of shrimp embryos using gene transfer technology. Encysted embryos of the brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana, are resistant to extreme environmental stress including temperature, salt, anoxia and desiccation. A small heat shock crystallin protein (p26) gene identified from A. franciscana has been shown to play a major role in the brine shrimp's ability to tolerate environmental stress. This Phase I Project proposes to introduce the p26 gene into the commercially important marine shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, through micro-injection and electroporation techniques, and to use the shrimp -actin promoter (that has previously been isolated from L. vannamei) to drive the expression of the p26 gene, resulting in the production of transgenic shrimp capable of surviving harsh environmental conditions. The commercial application of this project will be in the marine shrimp industry.
