Raymond
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The Glow-In-The-Dark CatFor brightness, glowworms have got nothing on Mr. Green Genes. And for fright factor, neither do black cats.
The 6-month-old feline may look like a standard-issue orange tabby in the comfort of daylight, but he turns a ghoulish shade of fluorescent green under the shroud of darkness.
But there’s no need to get spooked; Mr. Green Genes is not a ghastly creation out of a Halloween horror story. The glow-in-the-dark cat is the result of a genetic experiment gone right, not awry; he was cloned at the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans to aid endangered species ... and down the line, humans as well.
Betsy Dresser, senior vice president for the institute, explained the process of producing a kitty that strangely glows, but is otherwise as normal as any of it's brethren.
“Two of our scientists at the centre worked together with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Centre,” Dresser said. “They introduced a gene that would then produce a protein that glowed fluorescent green.”
To verify that the gene implants were working, scientists needed to try them out on a cat, because the animals have much of the same genetic makeup as humans. And to see if the genes actually made it into the finished, cloned cat, a gene was inserted that produces a fluorescent protein.
“We wanted to know for sure that we could insert this gene into a cell and have it multiply,” Dresser explained. “If nothing glows, we wouldn’t know if the gene was really inserted. So, because it glows, we know we inserted the gene and were successful with that technique.”
While Mr. Green Genes pawed playfully and rolled on his back for handler Kelly Trimble, Dresser explained that all the cat’s skin cells glow with the green fluorescent protein but, because of his fur, only the eyes, ears and nose display wattage under ultraviolet. “If we were to shave him, he would glow totally,” Dresser explained.
Dresser was also quick to note there is nothing cruel and unusual involved in producing a cat that glows in the dark. “It’s totally harmless,” Dresser said. “He’s just a normal cat; he doesn’t know he’s glowing.”
Normal or not, Mr. Green Genes might one day be considered a pioneer and hero in the advancement of genetics. For example, in endangered animal species that carry a gene making them prone to a specific disease, that gene could be pulled out at the embryo stage to give the species a better chance at surviving and prospering.
For mankind, it might lead to new innovations in treating diabetes, Dresser said. “In a diabetic human, there are genes that make insulin. If we can insert genes that make diabetics produce their own insulin, then we hope to stop diabetes. “It’s helpful to both animals and humans,” she added.
And Mr. Green Genes’ offspring might have a bright future too, Dresser said. “We’ll breed him and we’ll see if his kids glow, too!”
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