I’m A Genetic Engineer. I’m Also a Fish.

Horizontal gene transfer might not be the flashiest of names, but animals are using it to create genetic hybrids without a human in sight. Like frogs rocking the DNA snippets of snakes, and fish sharing antifreeze superpowers.
Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)
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commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
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[@SciShow]

Our bad! Electric eels are freshwater fish, and do not live in the ocean. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out. Looks like all of our ocean-based jokes were not very… pacific… to electric eels.

[@lysandroabelcher2592]

I've just opened to comment that. I'm glad many others realised it before. Now what about thunderstorms? Aren't they more and more common in nowadays oceans, thanks to climate change? Food 4 thought...

[@taimunozhan]

Nice to sea a correction about that

[@Christian-lh7ux]

Me too, I couldn't cope with that false fact but you guys @SciShow are 1st accurate nerds (like me🫣) and 2nd you know your audience 😂 Thank you for being meticulous and saving me from having to think that electric eels are freshwater fish for myself all day long or even longer and maybe teaching others! 😅 ❤️

[@donbailey831]

I was literally just getting ready to comment on that

[@randalalansmith9883]

I do NOT carry oats.

[@aliengeo]

Fun fact: technically, humans (and all other vertebrate land animals) are a very specialized type of lobe-finned fish :P By that reasoning, "I'm a genetic engineer. I'm also a fish," could be a scientist accurately describing themself in a silly way.

[@lordbalthosadinferni4384]

I thought exactly this Edit: so is an icththyologist a fish that studies fish in the same way a neurologist is a brain studying a brain and a physicist is particles studying particles and a chemist is chemicals studying chemicals?

[@SherlockHolmes-rl1lg]

@@lordbalthosadinferni4384 mind blown

[@Leyrann]

This is what I expected the video to be about. But the actual topic was very interesting too, so I'm not complaining.

[@jonahs92]

That's actually exactly what I expected this video to be about lol

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

I'm very glad I wasn't the only one to immediately think this and expect the video to be about it, instead of eels and... zebrafish. 😂

[@theboulder942]

His credentials seem fishy

[@TheOneTrueGesta]

Badum tisss

[@sandrastreifel6452]

And his presentations are slimy!

[@maximilian672]

I laughed way too hard at this 😂

[@Pim3211]

they don't quite belong in this academic pond

[@North_West1]

Stinks.

[@Verdictus13]

I would read Frankenstein 2: Eelectric Boogaloo.

[@eliospokefan1386]

HAHAHAHA banger comment

[@lindaseel9986]

That would take me higher! 😂

[@Zeuseus6609]

Damn. Beaten to the joke by 9 hours lol

[@biohazard724]

The Island of Dr. Moray

[@petersmythe6462]

"acquired traits aren't heritable" -Bio 101 teacher "WELL ACTUALLY" -Bio 501 teacher

[@DawnDavidson]

I know, right? As someone with a Genetics degree from 1984, the modern era of genetics and epigenetics just blows my mind.

[@kraneiathedancingdryad6333]

"When two plants really love each other.. they give each other a *special hug* " 😉

[@michaelteegarden4116]

"We call it the Horizontal Gene Transfer. Because it's done horizontally, you see."

[@erikjohnson9223]

If one of those plants is a parasite like dodder, this has to be a case of "struggle snuggle." I doubt the host reciprocates the "affection" (lust/gluttony?).

[@nickkorkodylas5005]

Ayo?

[@Resetium]

​@@erikjohnson9223"struggle snuggle" is a new one for me

[@stevewindsor3858]

"Even your overwatered house plants" As someone who works in the Plant Care industry, my voice starts to fade at the end of a busy day from how much I tell people they overwater their plants. I thank you for casually throwing that out.

[@Psilomuscimol]

I let the first inch of soil dry completely. For bigger pots

[@Psilomuscimol]

My kratom tree would hate if I drowned it. And they're too expensive to risk it.

[@themanhimself3]

​@@Psilomuscimolis growing your own worth it? I never considered getting my own tree.

[@Psilomuscimol]

@themanhimself3 I don't think so. Especially if you live anywhere in the US that isn't Florida. Or have a greenhouse

[@Psilomuscimol]

@themanhimself3 because it grows slow and will drop its leaves if it drops below 60 Fahrenheit. So when it gets any colder than 60 I bring it inside. It will be fine here once it's big enough to go in the ground

[@way-13]

I love the longer, more detailed, more technical style and studio of these new videos. I started off in middle school watching scishow, now I’m a developmental biologist who uses genetics engineering and molecular biology tools to study the evolution of face bones.

[@tranquility1967]

And you are still watching scishow! And that's amazing and shows that you are still open to learning. 🤩🤩

[@whoisincornell]

😊

[@sharronhankins7722]

Awesome 🥰🥰🥰

[@connecticutaggie]

"When two plants really love each other.. they give each other a special hug" but really, since it is grafting we are talking about "When two plants really love each other.. they amputate one of their arms and sow it onto the other plant".

[@DawnDavidson]

That got dark really fast … 😂

[@connecticutaggie]

@@DawnDavidson I didn't start it.

[@jennypulczinski7204]

NDSU spliced the antifreeze gene from fish into corn plants to GM a corn that can survive frost in the spring. Not sure if they ever made a variety that is planted commercially, but it is very interesting that they succeeded

[@Abdega]

I think they also did something like that for tomatoes

[@violettracey]

Awesome!

[@gorgha3988]

If they can do this with plants, I wonder if they could eventually do it with humans to make cryogenics viable.

[@Abdega]

@@gorgha3988 I suggest they try it with hamsters first since they seemed to have some small successes with them, along with thawing them out with microwaves

[@violettracey]

@@gorgha3988 That is an interesting idea!

[@ericarichardson2983]

Horizontal gene transfer sounds like a euphemism

[@markedis5902]

The phrase “Love Puddle” certainly conjures an image

[@jl7655]

So does horizontal gene transfer

[@North_West1]

I appreciate the use of “open mouth kissing”. Makes it more kid friendly

[@trishapellis]

Just some bacteria kissing their homies.

[@kashiichan]

What makes it more "kid friendly"? /gen

[@trishapellis]

@@kashiichan If you have to ask, I need to wonder how old you are. Think about things that are not kid friendly. Think about the body parts, the orifices, and how they can be put together. If you've been told about the birds and the bees, you should be able to figure it out.

[@kashiichan]

@@trishapellis I asked because I don't know what OP is comparing "open mouth kissing" *to*. Implying I'm a child because I asked for clarification is both patronising and unnecessary. Do better.

[@rondaherriott]

My overwatered houseplant?! I feel personally attacked by this …

[@North_West1]

My neglected house plant will balance your out.

[@kellydalstok8900]

Too much love will kill it in the end. (Paraphrased from Queen)

[@eduardonoriega8667]

This process of horizontal gene transfer is actually how Panaeolus Cyanescens aka Blue Meanies, and its similar species obtained the ability to synthesize psilocybin and psilocin, from psilocybe cubensis and others.

[@violettracey]

Cool!

[@DawnDavidson]

Woot! 💙 🍄‍🟫

[@Tinyflydeposit]

It's also how I got pregnant.

[@zagarak]

I am a human. I am also a nematode

[@joanhoffman3702]

You’re also 40% fungus, just like other humans. 😂😂😂

[@sharronhankins7722]

😂😂🥰🥰

[@quoriander]

I think it's less Frankenstein and more Dr. Moreau in those electric eel love puddles

[@FatElvis1]

Did you mean Dr. Moray? (I know it's not an electric eel b but it is an eel)

[@terramater]

So fascinating! Nature surprises us! Just like our crew getting on camera beavers, who are not only beavers but also nature's engineers!

[@lysan1445]

I love the way she delivers the punch lines! Perfect sense of humour!

[@FrozEnbyWolf150]

I couldn't help but think of that "Batman vs. The Penguin" skit where Batman screams, "Dr. Fishy, noooo!"

[@howdy4504]

Most gene transfers: make me better at surviving the elements Electric eels: Make me a goddamn wizard

[@connecticutaggie]

When you say the offspring of the tobacco plant, which offspring (since each graft will have its own fruit and thus offspring)? Grafting is more like transplantation or cloning than hugging. It takes a piece from one plant and attaches it to a different plant from a compatible species. In the end you don't end up with a "hybrid" plant but rather to plants that are sown together. The cells and flowers from one part are like the plant it came from. If you graft a Bing Cherry and a Red Haven Peach onto a Plum tree (yes, you can do that) then it will produce Bing Cherries and Red Haven Peaches, not a hybrid between the two each part is a clone of the original pant it came from.

[@marcotedesco8954]

Graft chimaeras are a thing! The most famous is probably + Laburnocytisus 'Adamii', an ornamental small tree that bears a mixture of branches and flowers like one or the other parent species AND with intermediate characters! From the wording in the video though I think the tobacco grafts grew true to type (is that the term?) as you described, but with evidence of having received genetic input from the rootstock.

[@connecticutaggie]

@@marcotedesco8954 Cool graft chimeras sound interesting. I wonder how the genes migrate within the plans. In the cases you are talking about, where does the chimeric appear? Is it on the original grafted stock or on the root stock. Also, I do like your term "true to type", kind of a spin off of "true to seed".

[@b.a.erlebacher1139]

​@@connecticutaggie Graft chimeras occur when a bud grows at the graft junction, containing cells from both participants in the graft. The resulting branch is a weird mixture of tissues from both. The video had an image of one but it went by fast. Graft chimeras are pretty rare in normal grafting, but I suppose you could make them on purpose in tissue culture.

[@JasonKjellberg]

Pets cat, gets static shock from the fur, starts purring -- gene transfer complete

[@sharronhankins7722]

Yess I'll like that🤔😂🤣

[@PretendingToBeAHuman]

I love the mew direction you're taking SciShow. The set looks great and gives the show a more personal touch than the green screen. The longer format is also nice since we get a bit more detail about the topic. You guys are one of my favourite edutainment shows on YT, along with Kurzgesagt and Ted-Ed!

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

Well, you know, taxonomically speaking humans are fish so thats fun

[@shitrowersdo]

Taxonomically speaking, fish aren't real

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

@@shitrowersdo Well they are if you include humans and all other descendants in it. A lot of people use it as a paraphyletic group, which are still a type of classification that hold some importance but its my preference to disregard them

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

Mary Shelley was definitely on to something. Considering lighting more than likely needed for the 'primordial soup' to really boil just as another facet to creating life. But it was widely understood back then already that lightning and life had connections. And life extension and creation of new life were a fad back then, and electricity and modern surgery techiques were the new inventions science fiction could extrapolate. And she brilliantly combined them creating a timeless masterpiece riddled with philosophy and moral issues while being a fun and fairly simple read.

[@rosalie.e.morgan]

I'm pretty sure lighting isn't actually used to bring Frankenstein's monster to life in the book, at least not explicitly. It has been a very long time since I read it, but I think that's one of the many things added later that stuck for almost all future versions.

[@slawomirlachowski981]

​@@rosalie.e.morgan I actually had to reread beginning of Chapter 5, where monster awakens. There is no lengthy description of the exact process that was used to bring him to life, just "I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet". World "spark" seems to be used metaphorically. In Chapter 2 Victor Frankenstein sees tree that is destroyed by lightning. This event turns his interests to natural philosophy. But he must be perfectly aware of destructive nature of powerful electrostatic discharges by then. 1931 movie with Boris Karloff contains famous "It's Alive!" scene, where monster is brought to life during thunderstorm: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6KxlnqJf8aEb7M I found an article that speculates about Mary Shelley's knowledge about experiments that used electricity to reanimate corpses: www.insidescience.org/news/science-made-frankenstein

[@JJ-ml9sj]

Hugo: "No look! I've been practicing. I made a pigeon-rat!"

[@washingtonunibound]

I really love the style change for the presentation. I feel like I'm retaining more information from this more conversational experience! Thanks so much for the always-awesome science videos!!

[@SuperVlerik]

Wait: there are salt water electric eels too?

[@zenebean]

Pretty sure they, zebra fish, and goldfish are freshwater fish, so I think there is a script error

[@SIC647]

​@zenebean All living things have salt water in them, and its composition corresponds to the salinity of the ocean when each of these living things evolved. Yes, humans too.

[@johannageisel5390]

Are eels not living in both fresh and salt water? I thought they were reproducing in the Sargasso Sea!?

[@lh3540]

Electric eels are freshwater knife fish found in south America

[@erikjohnson9223]

​@@johannageisel5390As lh3550 pointed out, these are not the eels of which you are thinking. "Electric eels" are merely called "eels" because they have adopted an eel-like method of swimming (& thus also appearance: snake-like body, reduced fins). They are actually a type of freshwater catfish.

[@alexv3357]

Horizontal gene transfer is a lot more Dr Moreau than Dr Frankenstein

[@shadow_flame2223]

HE IS A STURGEON

[@dth99times]

I'm a boney-fish amphibian possibly-reptilian primate

[@threecatsdancing]

Shoot. I was really hoping we'd figured out how to turn a person into a fish. I really, really want to be able to breathe underwater. It's the superpower I wish I had. Just call me Mrs. Limpet. 😁🤣

[@ElijahAllenEpsilon]

I understood this reference

[@DawnDavidson]

@@ElijahAllenEpsilonme too! 😂

[@greedyProphet]

I love the work he did with Doctor Worm

[@aaronstanley6914]

@10:44 that book already exists in broad strokes "I Can Turn into a Fish"

[@Zackzickel]

10:16 it’s also a remarkable feat for a creature that never lives in the ocean.

[@DawnDavidson]

They did cop to that error in a pinned post, at least.

[@jmr]

WOW! Scishow is approaching 8 million subs! Great job!

[@AzhreiVep]

10:36 And Cue me pointing out that Frankenstein was no doctor (he went into an angst coma and dropped out of college after the whole 'creating life' incident) and there was no indication of him using lightning or any other form of electricity to make his creature in Shelley's text (it's just sort of ... glossed over. He made the creature, don't worry about the details). Both are essentially inventions of relatively modern adaptations. And by 'relatively modern' I mean somewhere in the thirties.

[@WeeWeeJumbo]

Fish! Fish! Fish! Fish! Fish! Fish! Fish! Fish! (eating fish!) -- Mr Scruff's seminal 1999 classic, Fish

[@WeeWeeJumbo]

Trout are freshwater fish, and have underwater weapons [pew pew pew pew]

[@AuntBibby]

i used to listen to mr. scruff

[@theguything]

Super interesting, and as always Savannah is a wonderful host

[@sandrastreifel6452]

I vote for :”The Island of Dr Moreau” starring an electric eel making weird genetically engineered animal mashups!

[@highestqualitypigiron]

I remember at university for my research project I was trying to create a genetic recombinant e coli culture and I used electroporation to do so, it kept failing and it was driving me insane. Can't believe eels have been doing it for thousands of years and by accident too no less!

[@Bernandez4139]

"What have you have been working on, son?" "I used electric eels to create glowing fish!"

[@DrReverendJ]

As a chemist that chemical structure at 0:11 makes my eye twitch. All hail the Texas Carbon!

[@AnglophobiaIsevil7]

Prokaryotes are literally the animal kingdoms pan handlers. Surviving rudderlessly from handout to handout just thriving. 😂

[@johannageisel5390]

"Hey! You got some spare genes?"

[@ameliablack4613]

I tuned in thinking I'd learn a little and refresh a little, but alas! I learned a lot. You guys are awesome!!!

[@davidlundy2312]

You pretty awesome at delivering the info you share 👏👍, thank you!

[@DoctorX17]

"... everything from you to your overwatered house plant" Bold of you to assume I remember to water my plants at all XD

[@DavidDylanFisher]

Giving one animal another animal's DNA by zapping it with lightning is how genetic engineering would work in a Saturday morning cartoon, AND YET

[@sharronhankins7722]

Yess THIS COMMENT ROCKS!😂😂😂

[@SAmaryllis]

Happy to learn about such a bizarre concept. Thanks for researching and sharing this!

[@Psilomuscimol]

I love flowering plants. I'm so happy they exist

[@svenmorgenstern9506]

Not really interested in getting head butted by random spiders, thanks. 🕷🐐

[@Rickard...]

10:38 That goat spider sounds like a horror film waiting to be made

[@theninja4137]

"They might not understand the concept of engineering" I've had colleagues like that too

[@lynnpardo]

So well done

[@josteinksne3236]

Hey @SciShow, Thanks for many fun examples. How about Agrobacterium?

[@MontgomeryWenis]

Horizonal gene transfer is wild. I realized plants can do it when my dad threw pumpkin and melon rinds and seeds in our compost and a horrible mutant gourd started growing. My dad even tasted it. Morning glories can also do it. I planted Scarlet O'Haras and Bluebells in the same pot and ended up with wild tie-dye flowers.

[@rosalie.e.morgan]

Remember that a lot of commercially relevant plants just don't breed true, so it could just be the result of more mundane reproduction.

[@katbairwell]

The one time "X 2: Electric Boogaloo" would be totally appropriate!!

[@bruhbruh3080]

you guys should put the topic in the title. like ‘i’m a genetic engineer, i’m also a fish - horizontal gene transfer’

[@eyesotherworldly]

10:36 Sounds like a new Chuck Tingle novel... I'd read it 👍

[@Nazuiko]

If you think about it, an Electric eel mad scientist is basically just a lightning version of a Zoology dragon, who drives around in his dragon wagon, that likes to mix up things like a cow and a cube (Cowube!)

[@Sugar3Glider]

Can we take a moment to salute the MTG card showing a lighting bolt strike that turned you into sheep? Blue cobtrol represent.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

Knowing that humans are a specific type of fish (you can never outgrow your past clades, so we're a type of lobe-finned fish), I did truly expect a completely different video. I'm also very glad I wasn't the ONLY one to immediately think this and expect the video to be about it, instead of ferns and hornworts and eels and zebrafish. Not all together in one spot, mind you. 😂 Though that would be some _weird, kingdom-bending_ transfers! 😲

[@deankirkby8047]

Shows how life is more connected to one another

[@phoenixfritzinger9185]

9:24 so it turns out that the lyrics to the MGMT song Electric Feel are a lot more literal than I assumed The gene transfer there might be vertical but the activity is definitely still horizontal … and I said ooh girl

[@violettracey]

Awesome! Thanks!

[@vallaurent2035]

This is probably also how amino acids were created electricity, and the right type of pond/Darwin, Miller/urey professors, UC Berkeley experiment.

[@soulfilcher1335]

That "electric eel" (Electrophorus electricus) lives in freshwater so it would not "zap" any larvae in the ocean.

[@logenvestfold4143]

This means Electro is a much more formidable villain for Spider-Man than originally thought.

[@dustinjolicoeur6138]

Great vid.

[@nariu7times328]

kudos to the writing on this episode, HYSERICAL

[@roboslug7582]

I'm not sure if horizontal gene transfer is possible between me and Penelope Cruz, but I'd be willing to give it a try. Well, lots of tries. You know, for science.

[@gso619]

I'm picking up "horizontal gene transfer" as a euphamism.

[@thomaskeil1437]

She is great. She communicates very well.

[@DrachenGothik666]

When Nature finds ways to give you superpowers...

[@sharronhankins7722]

I need some superpowers nature!😆😆

[@mikezizis3725]

Thank you scishow for this remarkable video. The fish presented as Danio Rerio is actually Devario Aequipinnatus. As they say, just sayin ...

[@RachelJoanDale]

Nature is wonderful

[@carlosguimaraes624]

AWESOME!

[@mosquitobight]

When I read the title and saw the thumbnail I thought there was some Douglas Adams stuff going on here.

[@4124V4TA-SNPCA-x]

I thought there will be one or more genetic engineer interviewed and they would be the fish since we are all much of a fish as sharks, eels, or electric eels (who are scientifically speaking neither eels nor fish). But it was a nice video seven there wasn't any new material in it for me.

[@GabrielMartinez-zm9dg]

:Chimera ants music plays in the background:

[@jonathanbyrdmusic]

My dad used to call it the horizontal gene transfer too

[@JungleJargon]

I have a good story for you about electric eels... the ones that live in the Amazon River and tributaries. They are traditionally called Puraque. I am from the village of "Puraque" which is a misnomer. The Americans named the place Puraquequara, which was supposed to mean, *"place of the electric eel."* It should have been *"Por aqui quara",* which is understandable if you speak fluent Portuguese. So the name is a place where I am from is mistakenly called "Puraque" for short. Early on, the native nationals began calling the eel, Puraque since it was broadcasted on TV early on. I wish it had been named correctly since the initials would have been PAQ instead of PQQ. PAQ would have been so much better.

[@guard13007]

I'm more surprised to learn that people generally don't know that horizontal gene transfer happens naturally than I am to learn any of the specific details in here. I've heard about it so many times over the past decade that I thought it had become somewhat common knowledge. o.O

[@jonsims4099]

Dr worm been real quiet since this dropped

[@General12th]

Hi Savannah!

[@mathnerd97]

Horizontal Gene Transfer is my new euphemism

[@tonytins]

Who knew Frankenstein was actually onto something.

[@jarod1875]

"horizontal gene transfer" sounds like what scientists call it when their kids are in the room

[@juliebadger2377]

Electric eels aren't actually eels; they're a species of knife fish. I'm glad the freshwater/saltwater thing is already taken care of.

[@AWillforY]

For the sciences! For the algorithm!

[@AILIT1]

R' amen

[@AKindOfDog]

I would absolutely read Frankenstein 2: this time it’s fish

[@catatonicbug7522]

Spider goat, spider goat... Does whatever a spider goat does...

[@raphaelgarcia9576]

New title, “Shocking love puddles will change you forever.”

[@nathanlevesque7812]

Electric knifefish (mistaken for eels) are closely related to other electric species like catfish.

[@KalS-te5md]

Pencillin comes from a type of mushroom of which I am allergic to, yet I can eat mushrooms and not be allergic. Changing the biological form and shape and bringing it down to simple compounds makes histamines react differently of which key receptors cannot fixate on the right receptors causing an allergic reaction.

[@erikjohnson9223]

Penicillin comes from mold. It is a very different fungus than the mushrooms you are probably eating. (And other fungi, mushrooms no less, can readily kill you for reasons like amanitoxin--an example of chemical poisoning--that have nothing to do with allergies [which are an overzealous immune response]). This is like saying, "if I touch a stonefish the wrong way, it will kill me, yet I found out I can actually kiss my spouse, another vertebrate!"

[@evanrigel954]

i thought this was going to be about how all tetrapods (including humans!) are technically fish, though this is cool too

[@astk5214]

I am a sturgeon! I am a sturgeon 😬😮😬😮

[@sarahsander785]

I just stumbled upon the wording of "compared to the control groups, more of those larvae did wind up glowing green". You know that it sounds like at least one larva in the control group incorporated the gene without being zapped by the electric eel. Is that what happened or am I overinterpreting? Also, I don't think the electric eels would accelerate lateral gene transfer in the ocean, but lightning sure does.

[@lynnobrien1748]

I think it was probably a joke but I would definitely read that novel