Turkish Scientists Used Jellyfish DNA to Breed Glow-in-the-Dark Rabbits

Over the past two decades or so, scientists have forged ahead against mother nature's wishes and succesfully engineered countless glow-in-the-dark species: pigs, monkeys, even puppies—each for the purpose of furthering research on stem cells, HIV, and genetic diseases, respectively.

Thanks to a partnership between scientists in Turkey and Hawaii, now there is another set of glowing species to add to the list. The most recent animal to be succesfully transformed into a glowing, genetically altered version of itself are two turkish rabbits, born at the University of Istanbul last week. Implementing a technique founded by medical researchers at the University of Hawaii, Turkish scientists planted a fluorescent protein derived from jellyfish DNA into a mother rabbit's embryo. Of the eight rabbits born after re-inserting the altered embryo, two came out glowing.

But let's back up. The practice isn't by any means without its controversy, but there's a reason why you see so many animals being engineered to glow in the dark. Just rest assured that introducing fluorescence to animals (and tobacco) by way of transgenesis isn't done just to make already cute animals even cuter.

At an undiscerning glance, the proclivity of the practice looks to be that of mad scientists, but really the fluorescence itself is only ancillary to the real research at hand, often used as a mere visual indicator of success for scientists. In regular light the rabbits with the glowing gene look just like the rest in the litter; it's only when put under ultraviolet light when two of the eight rabbits light up.

With regard to [transgenic pigs from 2006](http://was the case with transgenic pigs from 2006—which glowed inside and out—the feat was)—which glowed inside and out—the embryonically introduced glow was carried out in order to help scientists more easily track the development of stem cells in the animals.

The successful births mean that UH's jellyfish technique works in rabbits, which in turn means that the experiment might open up the possibility of introducing other, actually beneficial genes into a rabbit's embryo. The glowing jellyfish DNA serves as a tangible proof of concept, in a way—it provides immediate feedback to whether or not a modified gene was successfully passed down to the rabbit's offspring. All the scientists needed to do to see if it worked was put the litter under a black light and see if any glowed.

"The overall goal is to introduce a beneficial gene into female rabbits, then to collect the protein made in the milk produced by the female rabbits. This approach could lead to new and competitively efficient ways to produce medicines," according to UH.