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Dawn of the Frankenfish

Food science: fast growing genetically modified trout and salmon could be the first transgenic animals on the table.

 

1. The Belgian blue is an ugly but tasty cow that has
2. 40% more muscle than it should have. It is the product
3. of random mutation followed by selective breeding as,
4. indeed, are all domesticated creatures. But where an
5. old art has led, a new one may follow. By understanding
6. which genetic changes have been consolidated in the
7. Belgian blue, it may be possible to design and build
8. similar versions of other species using genetic
9. engineering as a short-cut. That is precisely what Terry
10. Bradley, a fish biologist at the University of Rhode
11. Island, is trying to do. Instead of cattle, ______ is doing
12. it in trout. ______ is one of two projects that may soon
13. put the first biotech animals on the dinner table.

The Economist Jun 10th 2010

According to the text, the best definition for the term “short-cut” (line 09) is