South Korean Scientists claim to have cloned glowing dogs

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Scientists claim to have cloned glowing dogs

South Korean researchers have named all four beagles 'Ruppy'

By Hyung-Jin Kim

The Associated Press

updated 8:09 a.m. PT, Wed., April 29, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea - 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.

 

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