Flying pigs may be an impossible and oft-used phrase but you can rest assured that ‘glowing pigs’ have entered the realm of reality. Scientists at South China Agricultural University announced the breakthrough last week.
Scientists involved in the experiment made use of a technique which was initially developed by University of Hawaii’s Manoa School of Medicine. The technique was executed by isolating a specific ‘glowing’ protein from jellyfish’s DNA and then injecting it into pig embryos.
The aim of such research is to create genetically-engineered animals. Such animals can then be used to produce medicines and therapies by extracting useful enzymes from them. According to Dr. Stefan Moisyado of University of Hawaii, “[W]e can make those enzymes a lot cheaper in animals rather than a factory that will cost millions of dollars to build.”
This is certainly an interesting frontier of genetic engineering and promises to be very beneficial if the research goes forth as planned. By now, the glow-in-the-dark genes have been implanted and witnessed to work in not only piglets but also rabbits. Another research has successfully created glowing wildcats, aiming to prevent their extinction by giving them this special feature.
Source: University of Hawaii
Courtesy: The Verge
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