What the HELL is goin on around here?

[Zool]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4605202.stm


Taiwan breeds green-glowing pigs
By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Hong Kong


Picture of transgenic pigs supplied by Taiwan National University, courtesy Wu Shinn-chih
When lit up in the dark, the pigs glow green

See the pigs
Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three pigs that "glow in the dark".

They claim that while other researchers have bred partly fluorescent pigs, theirs are the only pigs in the world which are green through and through.

The pigs are transgenic, created by adding genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo.

The researchers hope the pigs will boost the island's stem cell research, as well as helping with the study of human disease.

The scientists, from National Taiwan University's Department of Animal Science and Technology, say that although the pigs glow, they are otherwise no different from any others.

Taiwan is not claiming a world first. Others have bred partially fluorescent pigs before; but the researchers insist the three pigs they have produced are better.

Transgenic pig - 12/01/06
In daylight, their eyes and skin are green-tinged
They are the only ones that are green from the inside out. Even their heart and internal organs are green, the researchers say.

To create them, DNA from jellyfish was added to about 265 pig embryos which were implanted in eight different sows.

Four of the female pigs became pregnant and three male piglets were born three months ago.

Green generation

In daylight, the researchers say the pigs' eyes, teeth and trotters look green. Their skin has a greenish tinge.

In the dark, shine a blue light on them and they glow torch-light bright.

The scientists will use the transgenic pigs to study human disease. Because the pig's genetic material encodes a protein that shows up as green, it is easy to spot.

So if, for instance, some of its stem cells are injected into another animal, scientists can track how they develop without the need for a biopsy or invasive test.

But creating them has not been easy. Many of the altered embryos failed to develop.

The researchers say they hope the new, green pigs will mate with ordinary female pigs to create a new generation - much greater numbers of transgenic pigs for use in research.



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Im not sure whether or not I believe in the allmighty, but I wouldnt do something like this just in case. Crossing a pig with a jellyfish. Yeah that seems natural.

[ahaha]

Im not sure whether or not I believe in the allmighty, but I wouldnt do something like this just in case. Crossing a pig with a jellyfish. Yeah that seems natural.

If there is a god, and he doesn't like us using science to benefit all mankind, then f@#k him. Too many times in human history religious fanatics, and their way scaring the mainstream religious population, have retarded scientific advancement. Don't listen to their fundamentalist views on such issues. Stem cell research and cloning have so much potential for curing diseases and ending world hunger. These are noble scientific endeaveors.

[MJZiggy]

ahaha, I agree with you entirely, but I'd rather see a cure for alzheimers than a glow-in-the-dark pig.

[Patler]

ahaha, I agree with you entirely, but I'd rather see a cure for alzheimers than a glow-in-the-dark pig.

You might feel differently if you were a pig farmer looking for his escaped pigs at night!

[ahaha]

ahaha, I agree with you entirely, but I'd rather see a cure for alzheimers than a glow-in-the-dark pig.

The pig is just the start to curing diseases like Alzheimers. I know it may seem silly, but it's an ingenious tool for medical research.

[MJZiggy]

ahaha, I agree with you entirely, but I'd rather see a cure for alzheimers than a glow-in-the-dark pig.

You might feel differently if you were a pig farmer looking for his escaped pigs at night!

ROFL!!

[Freak Out]

Do glow in the dark swine smell like money?

[ahaha]

Do glow in the dark swine smell like money?

I think it's more of a smokey apple flavored bacon.

[MJZiggy]

Wait...aren't jellyfish poisonous?

[Zool]

Wait...aren't jellyfish poisonous?

Farmers son "paw that pig stung me again"

[Little Whiskey]

its just in time for the holloween shopping season. all the kids will want one. store shelves will be empty....fights will ensue over the last pig in the store.

[Fosco33]

Can they make pigs that taste better? No way - because the pig is the best tasting animal in the world!

As Homer Simpson said....

Lisa: No I can't! I can't eat any of them!
Homer: Wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute. Lisa honey, are you saying you're *never* going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad! Those all come from the same animal!
Homer: [Chuckles] Yeah, right Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.


"Lisa the Vegetarian"

[mraynrand]

This is sort of science gone bad. The green fluorescent protein, or "GFP" was cloned from jellyfish and it has been used over the past ten years or so as an incredible tool for scientists to track proteins in all kinds of animals (model systems like worms, flies mice, and tissue culture cells). You can 'attach' GFP to a protein you're interested in, introduce it into a worm or fly or mouse, and track the sub-cellular location of the tagged protein in real time, just by looking at the emission of green light from the attached GFP. It's really incredible. Scientists have been able to figure out where proteins go in neurons, skin cells, you name it. It allows you a method to figure out a lot about an unknown protein, without having to develop or invest in more expensive methods or technologies. Variations on the GFP protein have been made that can emit light at many different wavelengths, like red, orange, yellow, and blue. You can track multiple tagged proteins all at the same time. The offshoot is that you can make transgenic animals (fish and pigs) that glow green, but you need to illuminate them with a specific wavelength, possibly at higher energies. It should be possible to make a transgenic rat that glows Green and Yellow!! Still, I don't think it's worse than using nuclear fission for bombs instead of generating electricity!

[swede]

This is sort of science gone bad. The green fluorescent protein, or "GFP" was cloned from jellyfish and it has been used over the past ten years or so as an incredible tool for scientists to track proteins in all kinds of animals (model systems like worms, flies mice, and tissue culture cells). You can 'attach' GFP to a protein you're interested in, introduce it into a worm or fly or mouse, and track the sub-cellular location of the tagged protein in real time, just by looking at the emission of green light from the attached GFP. It's really incredible. Scientists have been able to figure out where proteins go in neurons, skin cells, you name it. It allows you a method to figure out a lot about an unknown protein, without having to develop or invest in more expensive methods or technologies. Variations on the GFP protein have been made that can emit light at many different wavelengths, like red, orange, yellow, and blue. You can track multiple tagged proteins all at the same time. The offshoot is that you can make transgenic animals (fish and pigs) that glow green, but you need to illuminate them with a specific wavelength, possibly at higher energies. It should be possible to make a transgenic rat that glows Green and Yellow!! Still, I don't think it's worse than using nuclear fission for bombs instead of generating electricity!

Damn you, mraynrand! Your post is maddeningly enlightened. It's too intelligent and truthful to be a liberal post. It lacks the moral smugness and dogma of a conservative post.

I can't put you in a box! MUST PUT YOU...IN...BOX...BUT...CAN...NOT! WHO...ARE...YOU? ARGH!

[Fosco33]

Ok, so you can believe me or not - either way, one of my associates used to do research with this stuff on pigs so his opinion is definitely the gold standard in the US.

The GFP (green fluorescent protein) pig is quite a feat. It will be interesting to see what kind of research can develop from it. I actually wrote an article about the use of GFP cells to understand stem cell developmental mechanisms. As a research tool they are very useful to our understanding of how stem cells behave. Primarily because they typically are better able to get around the trouble of genetic mismatches that can cause the body to reject the transplant (or the transplant to reject the body – an often more fatal turn of events).



Pigs have been used in particular to study cardiac and related diseases in man. I will be interested to see what kind of unique research can be generated utilizing these cells. I worked with one research that used them in some of her studies relating to heart disease.



There are a couple of problems associated with GFP. First and foremost, depending on the type of genetic modification made (site specific or not..), some cells may not actually express the gene, making it somewhat difficult, if not very hard, to detect. Therefore, you can never be sure if a negative result is truly 100% negative. Another concern is that although typically thought to be inert (not having any impact on organ/system functions within the animal), GFP will not reflect exactly what happens in reality, but only partly. Again, the insertion site may disrupt some regular, though not critical cellular behavior, or, the protein it’s self could interact in a way that tweaks normality ever so slightly. It could be nothing, but from time to time, the devil ends up being in the details. Finally, in terms of utility, I don’t know the various life cycles involved in a Pig, and it’s cellular development. Often times these experiments can take years to develop and verify.



Thanks for forwarding this on! Very interesting!



-Dan

[Partial]

That's actually pretty darn cool Fosco. It's amazing the kind of things your friends, coworkers, and contacts have done when you really get to know them!