Glow-in-the-dark pigs prove DNA transplants are possible
Glow-in-the-dark pigs and other animals are more than just novelties
- they prove that DNA transplants are possible, and one day might lead
to DNA transplants from animals to people who have genetic diseases. The
work of the researchers who create glow-in-the-dark pigs today may lead
to cheaper, more efficient medicines of tomorrow, like clotting enzymes
for people who suffer from haemophilia.
 How did Chinese scientists create glow-in-the-dark pigs?
A team of scientists from South China Agricultural University in the
Guangdong Province created a litter of 10 transgenic glow-in-the-dark
pigs, basically the same way that a research team in Turkey managed to
create glow-in-the-dark rabbits - through injecting them with jellyfish
DNA. The Turkish team is now attempting to engineer glow-in-the-dark
sheep.
Through a technique that the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of
Medicine developed, the Chinese scientists injected pig embryos with
fluorescent jellyfish DNA. The jellyfish DNA causes the litter of pigs
to give off a green glow when the animals are placed under black
fluorescent lights or UVA lights. The study that resulted will be
published soon in the Biology of Reproduction Journal.
While glow-in-the-dark animals are kind of cool to look at, the true
goal behind creating animals that glow is to show that foreign genetic
material from one animal can be incorporated into an entirely different
animal.The process involves injecting the cytoplasm of the embryos with
plasmids that carry the jellyfish gene responsible for their fluorescent
green glow.
The injected jellyfish DNA is then actively integrated into the
genetic makeup of the host animals. This method demonstrates that DNA
transplants from one animal to another are possible.
Showing and proving that foreign DNA transplants from the jellyfish
can be incorporated into rabbits, pigs and sheep is just a way to mark
that "we can take a gene that was not originally present in the animal
and now exists in it," according to Dr. Stefan Moisyadi, from the
University of Hawaii.
According to Dr. Moisyadi, it is cheaper to make blood-clotting
enzymes in animals when that's compared to making them in "a factory
that will cost millions of dollars to build."
The success of the scientists from Hawaii, Turkey and China at
engineering glow-in-the-dark animals will eventually lead to beneficial
genes being introduced into large animals which will result in the
creation of more efficient and less expensive medicines for humans.
Glow-in-the-dark rabbits, pigs, and sheep prove that DNA transplants
from one species of animal to another are not only possible, but have
been done in practice. The knowledge scientists are gaining from that
research will one day in the near future lead to medicines to treat
genetic diseases that are more efficient and less expensive than the
ones which are currently available.
- guardianIv.com
|
