Transgenic animals have long left the laboratory and are gradually coming to our house. These animals help scientists find antidotes against HIV and bird flu, agriculture - to increase muscle mass gain, and people - to get funny little animals.
Who needs fluorescent hearts of transgenic pigs, feline AIDS and Hulk dogs and why - this article tells.
The image shows two chicks. The one on the left has a fluorescent protein, so its beak and legs glow under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. The UK government has supported the development of these chicks to combat avian influenza.
In 2015 alone, this disease killed more than 48 million chickens and turkeys in the United States. The radiation allows scientists at the University of Cambridge and Edinburgh to distinguish ordinary birds from genetically modified ones, in whose body the reproduction and activity of the avian influenza virus is inhibited.
Modified chickens turned out to be less susceptible to other types of infection. Scientists promise that not all genetically modified animals of the future will be made luminous.
American scientists at the Mayo Private Clinic in Rochester used cats to fight AIDS. In the study, published in the journal Nature Methods, the authors used genes from monkeys that blocked FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus), an analogue of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus).
The modified cats were implanted with genes from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, which made the animals glow. Tests on cells from unusual cats have shown resistance to FIV. The pathways, manifestations, course and consequences of this virus on the organisms of cats and humans are similar, but cats rarely die from FIV.
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This virus is harmless to humans, just like HIV is to cats. Scientists are optimistic and hope to fight FIV (and hence HIV: the DNA of humans and cats is about 90 percent the same) with gene therapy.
Scientists from Taiwan National University have raised transgenic pigs glowing in the dark with green light.
The researchers claim that, unlike other scientists, they were the first to grow animals whose internal organs (in particular, the heart) also glow. In daylight, pigs have a greenish tint to their eyes, teeth and skin.
Like cats, the animals were injected with the genetic material of jellyfish. Experts believe that such pigs will stimulate stem cell research and help with the study of human diseases. According to scientists, besides the fact that animals glow in the dark, they are no different from ordinary pigs.
The Beijing Institute of Genomics originally created micropigs for research on human diseases. Now scientists are going to sell pigs, the size of which does not exceed the size of a small dog, at 1.6 thousand dollars per individual.
Such a piglet weighing no more than 15 kilograms can be an excellent pet. The ancestors of micro pigs were at least three times heavier. Chinese scientists, in collaboration with European colleagues, turned off some of the genes responsible for the growth of the body.
However, not all scientists agree that transgenic pigs have the right to become pets. In their opinion, this may negatively affect the perception of genetics and transgenic products in society.
Scientists from Guangzhou bred dogs with super-powerful muscles. Geneticists removed the gene responsible for the production of myostatin, a protein that inhibits the growth and differentiation of muscle tissue, from the experimental beagle.
Blocking it leads to a significant increase in lean muscle mass with almost no adipose tissue.
As a result, dogs have twice the musculature of their counterparts and are more resilient. Scientists are going to use dogs to research the onset and course of Alzheimer's disease.
The Belgian blue cow was bred by breeders from 1920 to 1950. Scientists and farmers gave preference to animals with large muscle mass over those that gave a lot of milk.
Bulls of this breed can weigh more than 1.3 tons and reach 1.5 meters in height. The muscles in these animals appear in the sixth week from birth and produce up to 80 percent more meat in the output compared to conventional cows. Belgian blues also show mutations associated with myostatin production.
GloFish sells colorful glowing fish. The green ones contain the gene for the jellyfish Aequorea Victoria, while the red ones contain the coral of the genus Discosoma. Fish with two genes are yellow. The company patented its brand, and its fish became the first generally available genetically modified pets.
Of course, not without mice. The photo shows an individual with glowing green tails, ears, eyes, noses and legs.
These animals were injected with the fluorescent GFP gene, first isolated from the DNA of a marine jellyfish in 1994. For this in 2008, scientists Martin Chalfi, Osam Shimomura and Roger Thsen were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.