Zebrafish Rules!

I hope PZ will comment on this study:

A humble aquarium fish may be the key to finding therapies capable of preventing the structural birth defects that account for one out of three infant deaths in the United States today.That is one of the implications of a new study published online August 8 in the journal Cell Metabolism. The paper describes a number of striking parallels between a rare but fatal human birth defect called Menkes disease and a lethal mutation in a small tropical fish called the zebrafish that has become an important animal model for studying early development.

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In the paper, the researchers describe the discovery of a mutation in the zebrafish that disrupts the distribution of the critical nutrient copper within the fish cells and causes defects that are remarkably similar to those observed in children suffering from Menkes kinky hair disease, which, in its most severe form, causes degeneration and death within two to three years after birth.

"We found this mutation about two and a half years ago," said Solnica-Krezel. "Because it impairs so many aspects of normal development and causes the embryo to fall apart in two days, we named it 'Calamity.'" Six months later, she heard a talk that Gitlin gave at a scientific meeting about the results of exposing zebrafish embryos to a chemical agent that disrupts copper metabolism. She was struck by the similarity between his results and those produced by Calamity, so she approached him and they decided to collaborate.