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Biotech Science

Glowing Chinese Pig Passes Traits to Young 108

Posted by samzenpus from the sam-I-am dept.
porkpickle writes A cloned pig whose genes were altered to make it glow fluorescent green has passed on the trait to its young, a development that could lead to the future breeding of pigs for human transplant organs, a Chinese university reported."
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Glowing Chinese Pig Passes Traits to Young More

Glowing Chinese Pig Passes Traits to Young

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  • Glow in the dark bacon? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Clay Pigeon -TPF-VS- ( 624050 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @10:48PM (#21979468) Journal
    I can just see all the bacon dishes using this in the future if the meat glows too.

    • Re:Glow in the dark bacon? (Score:4, Informative)

      by the_humeister ( 922869 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @11:37PM (#21979910)
      Not if you cook the meat. Cooking temperatures generally denature protein and render them without function, unless they're prions...
      • Ahh damn! Lets figure out how to make prions glow in the dark!

        --
        tired of having 20+ bookmarking icons on your site? [primadd.net]
      • that just leaves glow in the dark ham.... yummy

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Hatta ( 162192 )
        GFP is actually remarkably stable due to its barrel like structure that protects the chromophore within. This [annualreviews.org] review article states:

        Increasing temperature from 15 to 65C modestly decreases the 395-nm and increases the 470-nm excitation peak of mature wild-type GFP. Yet higher temperatures cause denaturation, with 50% of fluorescence lost at 78C

        Pork is done at 160F, which is 71C. So you'd still have at least half of the fluorescence in a cooked pork chop as a raw one. There's bound to be some renaturation

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gnarlin ( 696263 )

          you might actually get to enjoy a meal of green ham and eggs.
          Whatever you do, don't go to the bathroom afterwards in the dark!

          • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

            by BarryJacobsen ( 526926 )

            you might actually get to enjoy a meal of green ham and eggs.
            Whatever you do, don't go to the bathroom afterwards in the dark!
            Really? That's the first thing I'd want to do!

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by rts008 ( 812749 )
              Then you may want to try this:

              1. Get several Cyalume Night Sticks/Glow Sticks (hereafter referred to as CYN), a filter apparatus (funnel and coffee filter or paper towel/napkin), clean 50 ml container, and a tasty beverage with a minimum of 50 ml's extra space.

              2. Activate the two CNS's, setup filter apparatus with empty container set to catch the filtrate.

              3. Cut open the CNS's, and pour into filter, after recieving the filtrate, pour filtrate into tasty beverage and 'chug' it.

              4. After 10-20 minutes, go ahea

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Kelbear ( 870538 )

                ... 5. Go to any 'black light' environment/party and freak out the normals. ... In addition, the same color will show in your ejaculate, urine, and feces if exhibited under 'black light' conditions
                What kind of crazy-ass parties have you been going to?!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by g-san ( 93038 )
        Obviously you are in the camp against bacon sashimi.
    • Glowing bacon...sounds like something you get off ThinkGeek.

  • tagged 'glowpiglets' (Score:5, Funny)

    by FooAtWFU ( 699187 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @10:50PM (#21979476) Homepage
    Because I always wanted fluorescent transplant organs! :)

  • Let em loose into the wild! (Score:5, Funny)

    by tomblag ( 1060876 ) <tom.blag@gmail.com> on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @10:52PM (#21979496)
    And let's see how long they last versus night predators.
    • Seeing as there usually isn't an ultraviolet light source in the wild at night, probably nothing much different than non-GFP pigs.
      • What the hell... one of these things might keep the damn moths away from the windows at least.
      • >> Seeing as there usually isn't an ultraviolet light source in the wild at night

        Ah, but I think I read that insects see well in the ultraviolet spectrum AND on a moonlit night, there should be some trace UV to be had. Not to mention that, to an insect, such a porker would be lit up like a christma... er holiday tree during the day.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by RuBLed ( 995686 )

      And let's see how long they last versus night predators.
      or to some lvl 70 farmer out there...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by peipas ( 809350 )
      It could be a fair fight if they are being hunted by cats that glow [msn.com] as well.

  • Green eggs and ham (Score:5, Funny)

    by DavidJSimpson ( 899508 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @10:58PM (#21979546)
    No! No! No! I wanted "Green eggs" and "ham". Not "Green eggs and ham". Green eggs. Not green ham.

  • racists (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @11:01PM (#21979572)
    Glowing or not, why would you be such an insensitive jerk to call them "chinese pigs"?

    Sounds like the typical behavior of your average *american pig* if you ask me.

    • Re:racists (Score:4, Funny)

      by theMerovingian ( 722983 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @12:53AM (#21980452) Journal

      The preferred nomenclature is "sino-porcine phosphorents".

      Slashdot is so insensitive towards racial discrimination.

    • Who really cares? If the general intent was not racist, what's the point of pretending that it was?

      I asked a question on a message board once about lowrider bicycles, and called them "Hispanic-type lowrider bikes". One guy (apparently Hispanic) got hugely offended, and insisted that I apologize. I was not denigrating "Hispanic bicycles", just trying to describe a particular bicycle by saying what other kinds of bicycles it was not.

      I told him that I was of German descent, and that I wanted him to apolog
      • *Whoosh!!*

      • It is only a child who would complain of such a minor thing--because it's only younger people that would mistake slavery, separate drinking fountains and lack of voting rights to be the moral equivalent of calling a bicycle "Hispanic" or a pig "Chinese".

        [OT] True; I go further though, and say that his behaviour, which has become common amongst the 'easily offended minorities', is actually a form of *bullying*. It's a manipulative attempt at domination and subjugation of Westerners.

  • no bacon for those guys (hopefully) (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @11:03PM (#21979598)
    That'll do pig, that'll do.

  • dining in the future (Score:4, Funny)

    by jollyreaper ( 513215 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @11:05PM (#21979608)
    I can see it now, a dimly-lit chinese restaurant, couples whispering sweet nothings at their tables for two, dining by the eerie green glow of their mushu pork.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Fry-kun ( 619632 )
      If you look at the video in the article, you can see that neon yellow and red fish were also created. The chef will become even more of an artist - imagine eating some famous painting ;)
      Either way, I think this is somewhat better than ingesting food coloring (which is made from insects, IIRC).

      • Re:dining in the future (Score:4, Funny)

        by jollyreaper ( 513215 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @11:36PM (#21979904)

        If you look at the video in the article, you can see that neon yellow and red fish were also created. The chef will become even more of an artist - imagine eating some famous painting ;)
        Either way, I think this is somewhat better than ingesting food coloring (which is made from insects, IIRC).
        I remember reading about a purple dye that was water-soluble and would pass out through human urine. MIT geeks would spike the punch with it at events and laugh when people freaked out over peeing purple. I always figured that something like that would be a HUGE hit with young boys. "Mommy! Mommy! I want a bottle of UroFizz! I want the purple pee!" But you know what? If they could come up with a dye that's water-soluble and glows, can you imagine the popularity then? In schools throughout the land, nothing but the sound of kids giggling and peeing inaccurately in the dark. The Janitor's Union would probably put a hit out on whoever invents it.
        • It's a blue dye, that passes harmlessly through your system, often used in medical procedures.

        • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward
          Mount a blacklight uv lamp above a urinal; Urine already tends to glow! (In fact, phosphorous was first refined out of urine by alchemists. Very impressed by the glowing, they were, thought they'd found something magical. Suppose they had, in a way. )

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by xtracto ( 837672 )
          You are thinking of Methylene Blue [wikipedia.org]. Which was used against malaria until people rejected it for turning their urine green.
    • Only problem will be after a nuclear war, hard to tell if the pig was exposed to massive radiation, or is descended from escaped lab pigs!

      Radioactive or not, I bet they still taste good.

  • Pork Fried rice will never be the same (Score:3, Funny)

    by infonography ( 566403 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @11:06PM (#21979628) Homepage
    Food critics will now have only glowing comments about it.

    I should be a ashamed about posting that but I'm not.

    • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by Kawahee ( 901497 )

      I should be a ashamed about posting that but I'm not.
      Don't worry, you can be ashamed of posting a comment that's going to get +5 Funny with a glaring typo for the whole of Slashdot to see.
  • If you read Russian, check out When a crayfish whistled [teffy.ru] by Teffi [wikipedia.org]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by patio11 ( 857072 )
      In Soviet America, the Whistle phished Crays! (I don't know, maybe he was a phone phreak turned spammer. What do you want from me.)

  • glowing organ transplant? (Score:4, Funny)

    by debatem1 ( 1087307 ) on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @11:16PM (#21979722)
    I realize it's dark in there but this seems a little extreme...
  • I raise the BS flag on this image [coolest-gadgets.com]. The right-most animal clearly shows a shadow on its snout from its right ear. This is only possible if the subject it is being illuminated from above, not if the subject itself is the source of illumination. The whole scene appears to be either illuminated with a green light source, or a normal photo doctored with a green tint. AM I wrong?

    • Re:Falsified Photos? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by reverseengineer ( 580922 ) on Thursday January 10, 2008 @12:07AM (#21980146)
      When "glow green" genes are spliced into an organism, that's usually a gene for the expression of "Green Fluorescent Protein," a protein native to Aequorea jellyfish. Green Fluorescent Protein, as the name implies, is "fluorescent," not bioluminescent or phosphorescent. The excitation and subsequent emission of fluorescence occurs on a very fast timescale (as opposed to phosphorescence, where you can "charge" a material with light, then take it to a dark place, where it will emit light gradually). Therefore, you need to shine a light on fluorescence materials to make them glow- shining a light in the blue or near UV (black light) wavelengths on one of these pigs will cause them to absorb that light, and in turn emit light which is green in color.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by bar-agent ( 698856 )
        Fluorescent, bioluminescent, phosphorescent...

        To a layman, they all mean "glowy." The differences are technical.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by omris ( 1211900 )
      the short answer is you're right. it's a shadow. but that doesn't mean what you think it means. they ARE shining a light on the pig. UV though, not green.

      the long answer, which is mostly covered previously, although not cohesively, is that normally, light visible to you is reflected, not emitted, and you can see both the source and the reflection. fluorescent light is emitted not reflected. and in this case, the light source is not visible, and the emitted light is.

      for reflected light, you shine a full s
      • Thanks for that - I've seen a number of articles in recent months about various genetically modified "glowing" creatures, and some mention of U.V. light, but I got the impression that they were being "charged up" with a UV light and that they continued to glow without illumination. As an emissive source, I would not expect the thing glowing to cast shadows on itself. So it's good to understand that they flouresce, but don't continue to emit without the light source - unlike night time golf balls that you ch

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jtcm ( 452335 )

      The right-most animal clearly shows a shadow on its snout from its right ear. This is only possible if the subject it is being illuminated from above

      No kidding. That's because they're under a UV light. The pig's skin only fluoresces where the UV light shines.

  • If only Frank could have lived to see the birth of not one, but a litter of Sons of Mr. Green Genes....

  • Damn (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ShawnCplus ( 1083617 ) <shawncplus@gmail.com> on Thursday January 10, 2008 @12:01AM (#21980098) Homepage
    If they grow wings we're screwed

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      Yeah, that'll happen... when pigs fly.... :-)

      In the unlikely event that it does happen, though, watch out for the falling green fluorescent pig crap.

    • Not really. Flying pigs entertain us when standing outside in long movie lines. Haven't you watched Kids in the Hall?
      • They may entertain us but it wont be a good day when every longshot ever suddenly takes place at once. "Is that pig..... flying" "WHAT?! Did Shaq just make a free throw?" "Holy @#$# RIAA just dropped a lawsuit!" etcetera infinitum
  • I cant help but wonder what goes through the mind of the pig when it sees it glows green, I mean I know they're not exactly rocket scientists but from what I remember pigs are fairly clever, I wonder if this causes them all sorts of mental distress... Are there any people here that know anything about animal behaviour that might know?

    If it does cause the pig severe stress that would be terrible... we dont want it spoiling the meat.
  • I, for one, welcome our lambent porcine overlords.
  • Pimp my kidneys!
  • I guess Kermit won't be alone anymore when he sings "It's not easy being green"
  • Lamarckism: [wikipedia.org]

    Lamarckism refers to the once widely accepted idea that an organism can pass on characteristics that it acquired during its lifetime to its offspring (also known as based on heritability of acquired characteristics).

    The reason this is so surprising is it breaks a central tenant of genetics, the fact that DNA --> body is a one way process. The germ line DNA is kept separate from the DNA of the rest of the body. Of course I haven't RTFA so I could be completely wrong.

    • I hate to break it to you, but you are completely wrong. The article states that the pigs were created with the express intent of passing on genes through the germline, just like we (scientists) do with mice, worms, flies, etc. So the parent wasn't modified during it's adult life, but as an embryo, and that's how the GFP was introduced into the germ cells.
  • I sure hope these guys are never exposed to gamma radiation. If they ever are, please for the love of god, Don't make them angry.

  • Doom (Score:2)

    by harl ( 84412 )
    As this is exactly how gene-modding will lead to a significant crisis some day. I hope we come through it mostly intact.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by omris ( 1211900 )
      i'm really interested to hear some reasoning line that supports how THIS type of genetic modification will lead to a crisis. as opposed to the type we've been doing since the first fertile crescent humans learned to domesticate crops.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by harl ( 84412 )
        I'm sure you are. However it won't be from me as my comment was on gene-modding as a whole. We will continue to do it. It will transfer or jump. We will be fucked. Hopefully for smaller values of fucked.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by omris ( 1211900 )
          so, gene-modding will cause a gene to transfer from one organism to another? really? how do you think that will happen? if you could make that spontaneously occur, the universe would like to have some words. as far as it is possible to see, reproductive cycles are the ONLY way to move genes in out out of an organism. recently, the scientific community has learned how to adapt the normal reproductive cycles of certain virus strains to introduce genes from any source they like to an organism. this bypas
  • I think that there is a possibility here for a great new slashdot meme!
    I just can't seem to think of anything with a glowing pig in it.
  • At long, long last we have pigs that glow under UV light. And iPhones.
  • don't you think this brings us a step closer to the "pigoons" of Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake [randomhouse.com]?
  • I actually don't really have anything to say here. I kinda blew all my material on the subject line...
  • pshhh what a nerd, Tattoos are for losers, real men get glowing liver transplants.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Macgrrl ( 762836 )

      Years ago they were touting gene modification to change your hair colour - I so wanted to grow emerald/jade green hair - that and flying cars, the future isn't what it used to be.

  • How do pigs glowing green passing genes lead to the future of breeding pigs for organs? Does the connection not show itself to anyone else?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by omris ( 1211900 )
      it's a big leap, but that is where they want to head. if you can get a pig to pass to its offspring ONE gene that you put there, then you might be able to breed one that has a whole set. like a set that causes it to grow an extra human liver inside. then you can just have a colony of liver pigs that breed and eat and are eventually sacrificed for some person who needs a new liver. and most likely, you could do in vivo liver studies on pigs with human livers that would be MUCH more likely to translate we

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