Glowing Pig Gives Birth to Glowing Piglets

A pig that was cloned by Chinese scientists passed its genes to the piglets. This discovery will be helpful for the development of human transplant organs.

The researchers from Chinese university said that the birth of fluorescent piglets proves that cloned pigs are fertile and they can pass their genes to their offspring. Liu Zhonghua, a professor at Northeast Agricultural University claimed that this breakthrough can be applied to the production of pigs that can be used for human transplant organs.

The glowing pig was born in 2006 with the help of technology that made it fluorescent green. After injection of fluorescent protein the pigs that took part in the experiment were able to glow green under ultraviolet light, the experts reported.

Robin Lovell-Badge, specialist in genetics at Britain's National Institute for Medical Research said that this technology is potentially valuable for solving the problem of human transplant organs. The glowing piglets' birth showed that genetic modification was successful, however further trials are necessary.

There were several cases of development of the genetically modified animals last year, including the creation of pig with genes of human diabetes and glowing cats.