Here’s something cooler than a canary in a coal mine: Tadpoles genetically engineered to glow when they encounter water pollution.
African clawed frog tadpoles modified with jellyfish genes show promise as a faster and less expensive way to detect pollution than traditional methods, say a University of Wyoming professor and researchers in France. What’s more, the green-glowing tadpoles indicate whether pollution exists in a form that can be absorbed by an organism and therefore might be dangerous to people. That’s more difficult with conventional methods.
“We’re tracking dosages that would show up in terms of development in either a person or a tadpole,” said Paul Johnson, a physics and astronomy professor at the University of Wyoming. Some tadpoles have been engineered to light up in response to metals. Others fluoresce when exposed to pollution from plastic that might cause health problems by mimicking the hormone estrogen.