SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean scientists have cloned cats by manipulating a fluorescent protein gene, a procedure which could help develop treatments for human genetic diseases, officials said Wednesday.
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In a side-effect, the cloned cats glow in the dark when exposed to ultraviolet beams.
A team of scientists led by Kong Il-keun, a cloning expert at Gyeongsang National University, produced three 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 ministry said in a statement.
"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," it added.
The cats were born in January and February. One was stillborn while two others grew to become adult Turkish Angoras, weighing 3.0 kilogrammes (6.6 pounds) and 3.5 kilogrammes.
"This technology can be applied to clone animals suffering from the same diseases as humans," the leading scientist, Kong, told AFP.
"It will also help develop stemcell treatments," he said, noting that cats have some 250 kinds of genetic diseases that affect humans, too.
The technology can also help clone endangered animals like tigers, leopards and wildcats, Kong said.
South Korea's bio-engineering industry suffered a setback after a much-touted achievement by cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk turned out to have been faked.
The government banned Hwang from research using human eggs after his claims that he created the first human stem cells through cloning were ruled last year to be bogus.
Hwang is standing trial on charges of fraud and embezzlement
No need to be surprised. Various labs have made other animals glow in the dark; like pigs and least one rabbit as well. As I recall, the general idea is to use the glow to track whether various genes that the glowing-chemical gene is linked to are active, and where, and how much. Although the rabbit was commissioned by some artist IIRC.
Making various crustaceans with glowing eyes is undergrad work over here - it's relatively easy, and non-traumatic (unless left in the incubator to die)
"what huge and loathsome abnormality was the Sphinx originally carven to represent? Accursed is the sight, be it in dream or not, that revealed to me the supreme horror - the Unknown God of the Dead, which licks its colossal chops in the unsuspected abyss, fed hideous morsels by soulless absurdities that should not exist" - Harry Houdini "Under the Pyramids"
"The goal of science is to substitute facts for appearances and demonstrations for impressions" - John Ruskin, "Stones of Venice"
Lord of the Abyss wrote:As I recall, the general idea is to use the glow to track whether various genes that the glowing-chemical gene is linked to are active, and where, and how much.
Exactly; look up "marker gene".
If I read the article correctly, they did only proof-of-concept in this case, inserting only the RFP but no "useful" gene (cats are supposed to be relatively difficult to work with; also, transgenic clones are rather more direct than the traditional method).
Also, the first sentence of the article is nonsense.
Hey parents, do you remember the first time you saw one of those black light pictures when you were young? Well, then amaze your child with glowing pets! Coming to a petstore near you!
"everytime a person is born the Earth weighs just a little more."--DMJ on StarTrek.com
"You see now you are using your thinking and that is not a good thing!" DMJay on StarTrek.com
"Watching Sarli argue with Vympel, Stas, Schatten and the others is as bizarre as the idea of the 40-year-old Virgin telling Hugh Hefner that Hef knows nothing about pussy, and that he is the expert."--Elfdart
Luciferase is very cool and very useful for a whole load of things. The best use I've seen so far has been for making crops glow for airfields in the middle of nowhere when lighting cannot be used.
Course, you can have it also react to allow you to see certain reactions taking place and pinpoint problems and so on. Biomarkers is a booming new industry.
