Prospector

Glow-in-the-dark Cats

Scientists have genetically modified cat clones to give them magic powers to glow under UV light, fight crime read HDTV signals - or something like that.

Here are some excerpts from the Telegraph UK online article:

Scientists have genetically modified three kittens so they appear fluorescent under ultra-violet light in a procedure which could help develop treatments for human genetic diseases.

The fluffy white Turkish Angora cats now glow red when exposed to ultraviolet light and the scientists believe the process could be used to develop treatments for a range of genetic illnesses. The technology can also help clone endangered animals like tigers, leopards and wildcats.

To clone the cats the team used skin cells of the mother cat and modified its genes to make them fluorescent by using a virus, which was transplanted into the ova. The ova were then implanted into the womb of the donor cat.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Science and Technology in Seoul said: "The ability to produce cloned cats with the manipulated genes is significant as it could be used for developing treatments for genetic diseases and for reproducing model animals suffering from the same diseases as humans.

Mr Il-keun said: "This technology can be applied to clone animals suffering from the same diseases as humans. It will also help develop stemcell treatments."

Glow-in-the-dark cat could help cut disease - Telegraph

See also Transgenic Glow Pigs

Labels: Glowing Animals

posted by Prospector @ 8:58 AM 0 comments

Transgenic GlowPigs

The team from Taiwan, where the world's first genetically engineered fluorescent fish were created in 2003, injected a protein extracted from jelly fish into the nucleus of a pig embryo to breed three male transgenic pigs, said Professor Wu Shinn-Chih, of National Taiwan University's Institute and Department of Animal Science and Technology.

"Yes, this is really important. It should be helpful in the acceleration of clinical research of human stem cells as it is generally believed that physically pigs are among the animals which are most similar to human beings," he told AFP.

"I'm not sure if there are fluorescent green pigs elsewhere in the world, but so far, in the photos available in the field, I have never seen such pigs, whose whole bodies can glow green in the dark," Wu said.

Wu dismissed concerns that the technology could endanger the ecosystem.

"There is no need to worry about that because, unlike fish, the confined green pigs have no way to crossbreed with wild species and produce 'Frankenpigs'," he said.

And green pigs might fly

Labels: Glowing Animals

posted by Prospector @ 10:10 AM 0 comments