SCIENCE - Cats are some of the "sensitive" animals with HIV ...
The experiment was conducted in pigs, rabbits, mice and Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly known as vinegar). An
American scientist, Eric Poeschl, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester
(Minnesota), has produced three cats this time genetically engineered
fluorescent domiestiques. According to their findings, published in the journal Nature Methods, the animals could advance research on AIDS.The fluorescent protein can serve as a marker
How does an animal a fluorescent? Green
fluorescent protein (GFP) was discovered in 1962 by chemist Osamu
Shimomura, trying to isolate the pigments from the bioluminescent
jellyfish Aequorea victoria. This
protein becomes slightly greenish light as soon as exposed to sunlight,
under a yellow light bulb and fluorescent green under a UV lamp.
The
gene for this protein can be fused with other genes and reintroduced
into cells or an embryo, which will then be synthesized. "By
connecting GFP-protein easily detectable by their green fluorescence of
these proteins to a cell, researchers can now follow their behavior,
movements and interactions with the environment of the cell," explains
an article from the site of culture chemical science.
>> For more information on green fluorescent protein, click hereA method that would develop research
Scientists hope to use these genetically modified cats for the study of HIV, reports the Guardian.
"Cats
are susceptible to human immunodeficiency virus (FIV), similar to HIV,
the cause of AIDS," said Professor Helen Sang and Bruce Whitelaw, Roslin
Institute of Edinburgh University, where he was the first cloned sheep,
Dolly in 1996.
Dr.
Robin Lovell-Badge, which is at the head of the Department of National
Development Genetics Medical Research Institute Medical Research
Council, said: "Cats are one of the few species that are sensitive to
this type of virus, and therefore an object of a pandemic, with such devastating symptoms for cats than for humans. "
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