South Korean scientists have created a glowing dog using a cloning technique that could help find cures for human diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, a Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday.
According to a research team from Seoul National University (SNU), the genetically modified female beagle, named Tegon which is two years old, glows fluorescent green under ultraviolet light when given a doxycycline antibiotic.
The researchers say that adding a drug to the dog's food can decide whether the Dog would glow or not.
"The creation of Tegon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases," the news agency quoted lead researcher Lee Byeong-chun as saying.
Chun further said, that Tegon was created using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technology, the one which the university team used to create Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog in 2005.
The scientist said that because there are 268 illnesses that humans and dogs have in common, creating dogs that artificially show such symptoms could aid treatment methods for diseases that afflict humans, reported Reuters.
The latest discovery published in 'Genesis', an international journal, took four years of research and around 3.2 billion won ($3 million) to make the dog and carry on the necessary verification tests, Yonhap reported.
A combination photo shows a cloned fluorescent puppy, a three-month-old beagle, glowing in the dark under ultra-violet light (L) and under daylight (R) at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Seoul May 13, 2009. The puppy is one of "2nd generation Ruppies", offspring of "Ruppy", the world's first transgenic dog which carries fluorescent genes. They took a fluorescent protein, much like that produced by some sea anenomes, and inserted it into the cell of a beagle. The name "Ruppy" is a combination of the words "Ruby" and "Puppy", and the offsprings of such dogs will possess the same fluorescent gene as their mothers.REUTERS/Jo Yong-HakA foot of a cloned fluorescent dog Ruppy, a seventeen-month-old beagle, glows in the dark under ultra-violet light at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Seoul May 13, 2009. Ruppies are the world's first transgenic dogs which carry fluorescent genes. They took a fluorescent protein, much like that produced by some sea anenomes, and inserted it into the cell of a beagle. The name "Ruppy" is a combination of the words "Ruby" and "Puppy", and the offsprings of such dogs will possess the same fluorescent gene as their mothers.REUTERS/Jo Yong-HakA combination photo shows a cloned fluorescent puppy, a three-month-old beagle, glowing in the dark under ultra-violet light (top) and under daylight (bottom) at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Seoul May 13, 2009. The puppy is one of "2nd generation Ruppies", offspring of "Ruppy", the world's first transgenic dog which carries fluorescent genes. They took a fluorescent protein, much like that produced by some sea anenomes, and inserted it into the cell of a beagle. The name "Ruppy" is a combination of the words "Ruby" and "Puppy", and the offsprings of such dogs will possess the same fluorescent gene as their mothers.REUTERS/Jo Yong-HakA combination photo shows a foot of a cloned fluorescent puppy, a three-month-old beagle, glowing in the dark under ultra-violet light (L) and under normal lighting at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Seoul May 13, 2009. The puppy is one of "2nd generation Ruppies", offspring of "Ruppy", the world's first transgenic dog which carries fluorescent genes. They took a fluorescent protein, much like that produced by some sea anenomes, and inserted it into the cell of a beagle. The name "Ruppy" is a combination of the words "Ruby" and "Puppy", and the offsprings of such dogs will possess the same fluorescent gene as their mothers.REUTERS/Jo Yong-HakA cloned fluorescent puppy, a three-month-old beagle, glows in the dark under ultra-violet light at Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine in Seoul May 13, 2009. The puppy is one of "2nd generation Ruppies", offspring of "Ruppy", the world's first transgenic dog which carries fluorescent genes. They took a fluorescent protein, much like that produced by some sea anenomes, and inserted it into the cell of a beagle. The name "Ruppy" is a combination of the words "Ruby" and "Puppy", and the offsprings of such puppies will possess the same fluorescent gene as their mothers.REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak
