Lake trout are on life support in Lake Michigan. They rely on intense breeding and stocking by federal fisheries. There was a breakthrough last summer, though, that could help bolster the lake trout’s recovery.
A geneticist successfully mapped the lake trout genome: an outline of the fish’s genetic makeup. The genome will help biologists understand why some “strains” of trout have a higher survival rate.
But could it also be used to create a sort of super-trout? And is that a good thing? Or is conservation-based gene editing a step too far?
This episode comes to us from our friends at the podcast Points North, as part of their special series called[Un]Natural Selection.
Featuring: Mark Walton, Roger Gordon, Chuck Madenjian, Seth Smith, Marty Kardos and Kim Scribner.
