Tropes

impactlab_2013 00017.txt

#Glow-in-the-dark pigs created using jellyfish DNA http://www. vimeo. com/82227865 Scientists in China have used jellyfish DNA to create glow-in-the-dark piglets. A technique developed by the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of medicine allows the ten piglets to glow green under black fluorescent lights. South China Agriculture University scientists were able to create the glow-in-the-dark pigs by injecting fluorescent protein from jellyfish DNA into pig embryos. According to the University of Hawai i at MÄ noa, which the Huffington Post cites, the technique used is used the same to engineer#oeglowing green rabbits#in Turkey earlier this year: The green color simply indicates that the fluorescent genetic material injected into the pig embryos has been incorporated into the animal s natural make-up.##oeit s just a marker to show that we can take a gene that was not originally present in the animal and now exists in it, #explains Dr. Stefan Moisyadi, a veteran bioscientist with the IBR. Dr. Moisyadi said the animals are affected not by the fluorescent protein and will have the same life span as other pigs.##oethe green is only a marker to show that it s working easily, #he said. As excellent as it might be to enable bacon-enthusiasts to more easily locate their quarry in the dark, the exercise serves a larger experimental purpose: The ultimate goal is to introduce beneficial genes into larger animals to create less costly and more efficient medicines.##For patients who suffer from hemophilia and they need the blood-clotting enzymes in their blood, we can make those enzymes a lot cheaper in animals rather than a factory that will cost millions of dollars to build, #Dr. Moisyadi said. When discussing cases of bioluminescence, it might be helpful to note that this type of photo-luminescence is fluorescence (think#oeblack light#).#When particles fluoresce, they immediately emit absorbed light, instead of than storing and emitting it over time as with phosphorescence (think#oeglow-in-the-dark shirt#).#This is not exactly new. Scientists in China were able to do partial fluorescence back in 2006. And a transgenic pig was able to pass on these genes by giving birth to two glowing piggies in 2008. Researchers hope to use similar techniques to predictably produce therapeutic enzymes for patients. In the meantime, we can enjoy the cool glow of fluorescent light, in a pig s eye. Via Doubtful News Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati swfobject. embedswf (http://www. vimeo. com/moogaloop. swf, vvq-115009-vimeo-1, 400,300, 9 , vvqexpressinstall,{wmode: opaque, allowfullscreen: true, allowscriptacess: always, server: www. vimeo. com, clip id: 82227865, show portrait: 0, show title: 1, show byline: 1, fullscreen: 1}, vvqparams, vvqattributes;

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