Scientists Clone Red Fluorescent Cats
South Korean scientists have cloned cats that look reddish under ultraviolet light by modifying a protein gene to change their skin color.
The team at Gyeongsang National University produced three Turkish Angora cats possessing altered fluorescence protein (RFP) genes.
The Ministry of Science and Technology said, “It marked the first time in the world that cats with RFP genes have been cloned. 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 (cloned) animals suffering from the same diseases as humans.”
Also, the team stated this cloned cat research will be used to help reproduce rare animals, such as tigers, leopards, and wildcats, which are on the verge of extinction. The technology will also be used to develop stemcell treatments.
To clone the Turkish Angora cats, the team used skin cells of the mother cat. They 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.
Source: Korea Times, AFP
October 9th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Damn some people on here are ignorant, do you use any medicines? Most would have had animal testing of some form and alot of medical breakthroughs use animals for testing. The used this gene as an indicator, if you can change a gene to create fluorescence then most likely you could change a debilitating gene into one that is fine. Until we can fully map genomes and cell interactions to create virtual reality testing on extremely powerful computers, animal testing will still exist FOR YOUR BENEFIT.
May 31st, 2009 at 4:54 am
Too true - the main problems with testing these things on people are that
a) humans have extremely long generations so that it’s very hard to monitor any changes unless you are prepared to wait decades, and
b) many of the comments on this post suggest doing things like this to criminals like rapists - the problem is this is that EVERYBODY has human rights. No matter what they’ve done, if we do terrible things to them, we’re just as bad as them, if not worse. Also, we have no idea whether people are going to be criminals until they’re mature, and with genetic alterations like this, it’s too late by then anyway.
Think about this and the previous three comments, and try to get it into your thick skulls that the research is vital, and if you really believed what all the comments before that are saying, then you wouldn’t use things like medicine, beauty products, shampoo, soaps, and perfumes. (I could go on, but I’d be here all day.)
Just think about it, and use your common sense.