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A real rainbow fish!

Animals

A real rainbow fish!

This is a beautiful shimmering coat of scales? Mother nature had to do with this just a little: researchers have created the colorful fish in the laboratory, however, for ornament.

These fish would probably call many Aquarium owners like your Self, because the dazzling guy steals probably easily all other ornamental fish in the Show. But no, with this fish, scientists have a new Nemo, or Fabius (two famous fishy Comic book heroes) created with it, you have something completely different: research!

The Team of Chen-Hui Chen, and Kenneth Poss of Duke University in Durham, Carolina, want to understand using the rainbow fish, and how different cells work in the case of an injury and the skin heals. For this, they did it with genetic methods in the laboratory.

Every single skin cell of the animal illuminated in a different color. Especially good can be seen under the microscope (see picture). Here hundreds of colorful polka dots strung together. The effect is rich in the smallest fin tip, the researchers explain in the journal “Development Cell”.

Looking at the fish under the microscope, with rows of hundreds of colorful polka dots

Due to the many different colors you can keep track of the smallest cell changes over days and weeks. “Before we can understand tissue regeneration fully, we must be able to track what each individual cell does,” says Poss. The method is called “Skinbow”. You should be a pioneer for the research: In a single step, hundreds or thousands of cells in a regenerating, you can make fabric visible.

Red, green, blue cells

The different colors arise by chance, by red, green and blue fluorescent proteins, the researchers write in their work. More than 70 clearly distinguishable color tones come together – confusion – according to the researchers. The colors were formed only in the outermost layer of the skin, remain during the entire life time of the respective cell.

In addition to the laboratory fish, the scientists developed a new Software, with the help of the image series can be evaluated. So you can analyse each cell on the basis of their own biography. Movements to be covered, such as size and shape changes and other reactions to a skin injury.

Rainbow for brain and skin

Actually, the technique was developed called the individual neurons in the brain to be stained, yet “Brainbow”. Now the System for more sophisticated monitoring is designed to Supplement the possibilities still further, and with other imaging techniques can also be combined.

hf/fs (dpa)

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