South Korean scientists have genetically engineered a dog which glows in the dark.
South Korean scientists
have genetically engineered a dog which glows in the dark. A Seoul National
University (SNU) research team said the genetically modified female beagle,
named Tegon and born in 2009, glows fluorescent green under ultraviolet light
if given a doxycycline antibiotic.

The researchers, who
finished a two-year test, said the ability to glow can be turned on or off by
adding a drug to the dog’s food. “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 head researcher Lee
Byeong-chun as saying.

He said the dog was
created using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technology that the university
researchers used to make the world’s first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005. The
scientist said that since there are 268 illnesses that dogs and humans have in
common, making dogs that artificially show such symptoms could aid methods for
treating human diseases. ~ Reuters, Jul 27

South Korean scientists make glow-in-the-dark dog
Jared Yee
animal rights
genetic engineering