Posted on 12/12/2007 3:57:05 PM PST by hocndoc
By Cho Jin-seo Staff Reporter
Researchers found a way to clone pet cats five years ago. Now they can play a trick on their genes to change their color.
A Gyeongsang National University team said they have succeeded in cloning cats after modifying a gene to change their skin color. Because of the red fluorescence protein in their skin cells, the three Turkish Angola kittens look reddish under ultraviolet light, the researchers said.
The red cloned cat research is expected to be utilized in dealing with certain genetic diseases in animals and humans. It will also help reproduce rare animals, such as tigers and wildcats, which are on the verge of extinction, the team said.
According to the team led by professor Kong Il-keun, four kittens were born in January and February by caesarian section, but one died during the procedure. They weighed between 110 and 136 grams at birth and now weigh 3.5 kilograms each now, the researchers said.
``We have proved our world-class ability in cloning animals that have modified characteristics,'' said Kong. ``We found that the red fluorescent protein in all the organs of the dead kitten, which means we have established an efficient way of cloning gene-modified cats.''
The first cloned cat, nicknamed Copycat, was born in 2002 at Texas A&M University. Many other animals such as cows, dogs, pigs, bulls and goats have been successfully cloned by a number of researchers in North America, Europe and South Korea.
Kong cloned a cat in 2004 for the first time in the country. He has since worked as director of research at a state-supported project to clone animals for therapeutic research.
To clone the Turkish Angola cats, Kong's team used skin cells of the mother cat. They modified its genes to make them fluorescent by using a virus, which was transplanted into the ova. The ova were then implanted into the womb of the donor cat.
Called reproductive cloning, the method has been mostly used in cloning animals that are genetically identical, until Kong's kittens were born with the tampered genes.
The technique differs from therapeutic cloning, which is to make a ``stem cell'' that can be guided to grow into a specific body part. Former Seoul National University professor Hwang Woo-suk used this method in his human stem cell cloning research, which was later found to have used fabricated data.
Poor kitties.
As I said on my blog: in my day, we just belled ‘em.
Another case of just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
That was my first thought too!
I know I’m the bearer of bad news but that green one must have the infection. It will be imp ossible to heal and will need to be put down.
How does a virus make genes fluorescent?
Thanks for posting the pic.
Creepy doesn’t begin to tell it. My cat is very happy with a mottled grey/white/tan coat, thank you very much.
Cats to match your hair!
The virus is the transport vehicle for a gene that codes for a protein that fluoresces. If you add this gene to the DNA in an egg cell, induce cell division, implant the blastomere or embryo into a host uterus. The test for success is when the baby kitten arrives - you shine a UV light on it and if you see florescence your attempt at modifying the creature worked. The skin cells are producing the gene's protein.
I think I got that right - close enough.
When the lights go out, however, so do Trixie's eyes. She's dependable that way, which is a good thing.
bump & a ping
Thank you!
When I was in HS in the 70's, I bought weed from a couple that had a chimp that smoked weed with them, and a dog in the back yard on LSD and beer. And 2 parrots that laughed a lot. I never went back there.
I hope they straightened up by this time. Normal people don't get their pets stoned so people can sit around and laugh at them.
This is very close to that. Help the animals to just live a normal animal life with some love and companionship. Mark Levin has a book out about this called 'Rescuing Sprite'. It is going for sale overseas in other languages.
Thank you for posting that picture - I always lose that bit of code.
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