Glow In The Dark Cat

"A research team at Gyeongsang National University, headed by Kong Il-Keun, took skin cells from a Turkish Angora female cat and used a virus to insert the genetic instructions for making red fluorescent protein. Then they put the gene-altered nuclei into eggs for cloning. The cloned embryos were implanted back into the donor cat, which effectively became the surrogate mother for their own clones,” says (MSNBC.com.)

Along with cats, they have successfully administered the same glow in the dark experimented to mice, pigs, and goldfish to test the versatility of the ultraviolet marker. The success of the experiment shows that this ultraviolet marker will not only be able to track certain illnesses, otherwise killing silently, but hopefully one day be able to slow the extinction of certain wild species. The reason being is that the genetic variation of cats, mice, pigs and such have common traits, the ultraviolet maker used works best to reveal and track these traits. Therefore the possibilities of slowing the extinction of the certain species have the same or close to the same genetic traits. The glow in the dark cat is a stepping stone in modern science and medicine, opening new doors for research of human illnesses and should not be considered a concrete movement in research for there is not enough study to be proven.

Some speculate that this is cruel and is a danger to any animal. The research shows that none of the animals have been harmed because of the fluorescent protein. The glow in the dark cat is merely a side affect to a marker protein used to trace a gene of interest. That side affect which has not shown any long-term harm to the cats. According to the (Korean Times), “originally four kittens were born via caesarian section, only three of them survived after an hour of birth.” Because one of the kittens died during birth many claim that the cloned and gene altered kittens are now an issue of animal cruelty. However, the kitten that did not make it alive was not due to the fluorescent protein but to the ratio of survival of animals that are cloned and labored through caesarian section. This is proven because in other non-fluorescent gene experiments the animals have still died during birth. Also in the experiment with the mice or goldfish that both have the same procedure administered on them did not die. In many other news reports individuals are unconvinced of how the glow in the dark cats can help stop genetic diseases, they believe it will lead no where, these individuals do not see the connection. An individual who is looking into this study must look at the bigger picture. It does not end at a few cats that glow in the dark, nor did it start there. There was much thought that went into the decision of implanting the marker protein, and much hypothesis as to how this could help or hinder the future of medicine. Not to mention the knowledge of liability issues that could severely damage the future study of any research that the Gyeongsang National University conducts. Therefore theses researchers had the best interest in mind for the improvement of science, not to mention the future well being of their University.

These cats were not cloned or genetically engineered for the sake of having glow in the dark felines. (WeeklyWorldNews.com) states, "RFP is the fluorescent maker that was linked to the protein they inserted on to the