Taipei (Taiwan): Scientists in Taiwan have successfully bred three pigs which glow fluorescent green in the dark, marking a potential breakthrough for stem cell research, a professor said on Thursday.
The team from Taiwan, where the world's first genetically engineered fluorescent fish were created in 2003, injected a protein extracted from jelly fish into the nucleus of a pig embryo to breed three male transgenic pigs, said Professor Wu Shinn-Chih, of National Taiwan University's Institute and Department of Animal Science and Technology.
It was hoped that the pigs would eventually enable researchers to trace the development of tissues when stem cells are used to repair damaged organs, Wu said.
"Yes, this is really important. It should be helpful in the acceleration of clinical research of human stem cells as it is generally believed that physically pigs are among the animals which are most similar to human beings," he said.
"I'm not sure if there are fluorescent green pigs elsewhere in the world, but so far, in the photos available in the field, I have never seen such pigs, whose whole bodies can glow green in the dark," Wu said.
"I was shocked when I saw the animals glowing the first time." Wu dismissed concerns that the technology could endanger the ecosystem.
"There is no need to worry about that because, unlike fish, the confined green pigs have no way to crossbreed with wild species and produce 'Frankenpigs'," he said.
Conservationist groups warned of potential serious consequences to the eco-system after Taiwan's Taikong Corp in 2003 became the world's first company to sell transgenic fluorescent fish, which was listed as one of the "coolest inventions" that year by Time magazine.
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