Headwaters of the zebrafish — emergence of a new model vertebrate

Abstract

The understanding of vertebrate development has advanced considerably in recent years, primarily due to the study of a few model organisms. The zebrafish, the newest of these models, has risen to prominence because both genetic and experimental embryological methods can be easily applied to this animal. The combination of approaches has proven powerful, yielding insights into the formation and function of individual tissues, organ systems and neural networks, and into human disease mechanisms. Here, we provide a personal perspective on the history of zebrafish research, from the assembly of the first genetic and embryological tools through to sequencing of the genome.

Effect-Directed Analysis of Municipal Landfill Soil Reveals Novel Developmental Toxicants in the Zebrafish Danio rerio

“…5 The zebrafish is an excellent model for studying vertebrate development due to its external fertilization, transparent embyos, rapid embryonic developmental cycle and large clutch sizes. 6 It is rapidly becoming a model for human health studies because of its well characterized development and genetics. 7 During embryotoxicity bioassays, we closely observed zebrafish development during early life stages (up to 6 days post fertilization) and focused on specific developmental effects in various dilutions of soil extracts.…”

Non-Associative Learning in Larval Zebrafish

“…The organization of the genome and the genetic pathways controlling signal transduction and development are highly conserved between zebrafish and man (Postlethwait et al, 2000). These properties have established the zebrafish as an excellent model system that is relevant to studies of human diseases (Grunwald and Eisen, 2002). Zebrafish have also become the focus of neurobehavioral studies since larvae display learning, memory, sleep, drug addiction, and behavior phenotypes that are quantifiable and related to those seen in man (Zhdanova et al, 2001;Cahill, 2002;Guo, 2004;Orger et al, 2004;Ninkovic et al, 2006).…”

Comparative aspects of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model for aging research

“…The zebrafish, a hardy tropical fish commonly kept in home aquariums, has become a major model organism in biomedical research thanks primarily to the late George Streisinger (Grunwald and Eisen, 2002;Streisinger et al, 1981). He was one of a handful of scientists to first advocate studying neurobiology with a genetic approach using model organisms, which included Sydney Brenner's use of Caenorhabditis elegans and Seymour Benzer's studies on Drosophila.…”

“…His efforts endured only through the prescient and persistent intervention of a handful of scientists, who by chance were involved in the peer review and funding process at NIH (M. C. Capecchi, G. Lark and P. von Hippel, personal communications)." (Grunwald and Eisen, 2002).…”