Glow-in-the-dark kittens to help produce cure for AIDS
Can't your cat liven up parties or fight killer diseases?
Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime
Glow-in-the-dark kittens are science's latest weapon in the war against HIV. The cats, bred at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, are resistant to feline AIDS, glow unearthly green under UV light and are an important step towards disrupting the mechanism by which HIV destroys the human immune system.
Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) causes AIDS in cats in the same way that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does in people: by depleting the body's infection-fighting T-cells. The feline and human versions of key proteins that defend mammals against virus invasion are ineffective against the virus.
To create the luminous FIV-proof cats, the unfertilised eggs of a cat were injected with DNA proteins from a rheus macaque monkey and glow-in-the-dark jellyfish genes. The two pieces of genetic material were joined together so that the fluorescent jellyfish protein could be used to track their take-up by the cat.
The Mayo Clinic explains that though there are no immediate applications for HIV sufferers, it holds potential for understanding of the disease:
The macaque restriction factor, TRIMCyp, blocks FIV by attacking and disabling the virus's outer shield as it tries to invade a cell. The researchers know that works well in a culture dish and want to determine how it will work in vivo. This specific transgenesis (genome modification) approach will not be used directly for treating people with HIV or cats with FIV, but it will help medical and veterinary researchers understand how restriction factors can be used to advance gene therapy for AIDS caused by either virus."
The research is published in full by Nature Methods. ®
COMMENTS
Hmmm. I suspect the work of Sheldon Cooper lies behind this. How long before these are available as pets? (And how freaky would it be to wake up in the middle of the night to find a glowing cat silently watching/judging you?)
"there are no immediate applications for HIV sufferers"
"...unless they have quite a lot of money and fancy a glow in the dark cat"
"The Mayo Clinic explains that though there are no immediate applications for HIV sufferers"
Who cares! It's a glow in the dark cat FFS!
Don't they realise how many accidents caused by a late night trip to the toilet will be prevented by this invention?!
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime
SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had
