Glow in the Dark Puppy!

[3113]

Hey, Shereads, here's a pal for your pup and neither you nor your dog will lose sight of this new pup in the dark because....

South Korean scientists say they have engineered four beagles that glow red using cloning techniques that could help develop cures for human diseases. The four dogs, all named "Ruppy" — a combination of the words "ruby" and "puppy" — look like typical beagles by daylight. But they glow red under ultraviolet light, and the dogs' nails and abdomens, which have thin skins, look red even to the naked eye.

"...What's significant in this work is not the dogs expressing red colors but that we planted genes into them..." ...Scientists in the U.S., Japan and in Europe previously have cloned fluorescent mice and pigs, but this would be the first time dogs with modified genes have been cloned successfully, Lee said. He said his team took skin cells from a beagle, inserted fluorescent genes into them and put them into eggs before implanted them into the womb of a surrogate mother, a local mixed breed.

...The glowing dogs show that it is possible to successfully insert genes with a specific trait, which could lead to implanting other, non-fluorescent genes that could help treat specific diseases, Lee said....

Full article here.

And here is one of the puppies:

http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/090428-dog-glow-hlarg-7p.hlarge.jpg

 

[slyc_willie]

Both cool and . . . weird.

Implanting fluorescent proteins is one thing, but I imagine implanting anti-cancer cells will be much more difficult. They would first have to understand the roots of those diseases.

At the very least, though, it'll make Fido easier to find at night when he's escaped from the back yard.

"Fido! Fido!"

Neighbor: "What color is he?"

"Brown, black, white and neon red."

Neighbor: "Oh, okay. I saw a neon green one running down the street. I'll keep an eye out for red."

 

[Huckleman2000]

I'm not sure the Koreans understand the whole "man's best friend" idea.