SKorean experts claim to
have cloned glowing dogs
South Korean scientists say they
have engineered four beagles that glow red using cloning techniques
that could help develop cures for human diseases. The four dogs,
all named "Ruppy" _ a combination of the words "ruby" and "puppy" _
look like typical beagles by daylight.
But they glow red under
ultraviolet light, and the dogs' nails and abdomens, which have
thin skins, look red even to the naked eye.
Seoul National University
professor Lee Byeong-chun, head of the research team, called them
the world's first transgenic dogs carrying fluorescent genes, an
achievement that goes beyond just the glowing novelty.
"What's significant in this work
is not the dogs expressing red colors but that we planted genes
into them," Lee told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
His team identified the dogs as
clones of a cell donor through DNA tests and earlier this month
introduced the achievement in a paper on the Web site of the
journal "Genesis."
Scientists in the U.S., Japan and
in Europe previously have cloned fluorescent mice and pigs, but
this would be the first time dogs with modified genes have been
cloned successfully, Lee said.
He said his team took skin cells
from a beagle, inserted fluorescent genes into them and put them
into eggs before implanted them into the womb of a surrogate
mother, a local mixed breed.
Six female beagles were born in
December 2007 through a cloning with a gene that produces a red
fluorescent protein that make them glow, he said. Two died, but the
four others survived.
The glowing dogs show that it is
possible to successfully insert genes with a specific trait, which
could lead to implanting other, non-fluorescent genes that could
help treat specific diseases, Lee said.
The scientist said his team has
started to implant human disease-related genes in the course of dog
cloning, saying that will help them find new treatments for genetic
diseases such as Parkinson's. He refused to provide further
details, saying the research was still under way.
A South Korean scientist who
created glowing cats in 2007 based on a similar cloning technique
said that Lee's puppies are genuine clones, saying he had seen them
and had read about them in the journal.
"We can appraise this is a step
forward" toward finding cures for human diseases, said veterinary
professor Kong Il-keun at South Korea's Gyeongsang National
University. "What is important now is on what specific diseases
(Lee's team) will focus on."
Lee was a key aide to disgraced
scientist Hwang Woo-suk, whose breakthroughs on stem cell research
were found to have been made using faked data. Independent tests,
however, later proved the team's dog cloning was
genuine.
