London, July 30 (IANS) South Korean scientists have created a dog that glows fluorescent green under ultraviolet light after antibiotic drugs are put in its food.
The dog named Tagon – a two-year-old Beagle – was cloned using the same cell technology used to make the world’s first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005, The Sun reported.
Researcher Lee Byeong-chun of Seoul National University said: ‘The creation of Tagon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases.’
Dogs were chosen for the 1.8 million-pound project because they have 268 illnesses in common with humans, according to science journal Genesis, which published the discovery.
This is, however, not the first glow-in-the-dark creature. American scientists reportedly made a fluorescent cat called ‘Mr Green Genes’ three years ago.
By introducing a fluorescence protein into the cat’s DNA, mucus in the cat’s nose, eyes and ears made them look green.
