According to Nagoya University, the research, led by Professor Eiichi Hondo, found that the electricity generated by eels can cause genetic material to be transferred into the cells of living things.
The research was conducted in the laboratory by adding DNA-carrying green fluorescent protein (GFP) to the environment of zebrafish larvae and electric eels.
EEL ELECTRICITY
GFP-positive cells were found in about 5 percent of the larvae examined under a microscope after the eel electrocution.
In this way, it was observed that "electroporation", which means the application of electricity to increase the permeability of the cell membrane in the laboratory environment to allow foreign DNA to be added to the cell, occurs spontaneously in nature.
Atsuo Iida, one of the researchers, said, "This shows that the electrical oscillation from the electric eel can cause gene transfer to cells."
The results of the study were published in the journal "PeerJ".
