With so many in disagreement about creating animals by cloning it seems certain that this will not go down well with everyone: scientists in South Korea announced July 27, 2011 that they had created, or cloned, a dog that can glow in the dark.
Depending on what is put in Tegon's food (Tegon is the name of the female cloned beagle) she can glow a bright fluorescent green essentially on command. It's the drug doxycycline that does the trick; when a doxcycline antibiotic is mixed into her food the dog will glow under an ultraviolet light, the first animal to achieve such a feat.
Lead researcher Lee Byeong-chun from Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine said that "the entire body of the dog glows." Lee and his colleagues research was published in the scientific journal 'Genesis'.
Glowing Dog Expediates Medical Research
Is there a purpose to this? Those who created Tegon, or birthed her - she came into existence in 2009 - say that there is a purpose to creating a dog that can glow a fluorescent green: medical research. "The creation of Tegon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases," Lee told Yonhap news agency.
A glowing dog will enable scientists to conduct valuable biomedical research. They will be able to inject the dog with human illnesses and track the illness as it progresses in the body and study the effects, with a view to finding a cure. Dogs and humans share the potential for many illnesses and some illnesses they say they can look at include Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease.
"The dog has 268 genetic type diseases that are similar to those of humans," Lee told Discovery News. "Also, the dog has physiological and anatomical similarities with humans. These reasons make them a good model for human disease."
Dog Tegon: Costly Research
The same research first created a dog, Snuppy, in 2005, and while that dog, and subsequent cloned dogs and a cloned cat, also glow, this ability to glow could not be turned off and on. Tegon then is a leap forward but the animal, and the research, didn't come cheap. Tegon and the subsequent tests the animal has undergone to refine the technique cost the University some $3 million.
Not something you wanna try with Skippy at home.
References used in this story:
- Discover System; Genetically Modified Beagle Glows; Aug. 1, 2011.
- Geek System; Researchers Create Glowing Dog That Can be Turned on or off; July 28, 2011.
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