Biologists at Osaka University have created genetically-altered mice that glow green in the dark and claimed June 11 that they have bred "the world's first light-emitting mammals."
Assistant Professor Masaru Okabe and his team at the Osaka University Microbiology Laboratory said they used the latest technology to inject DNA from light-emitting jellyfish into the fertilized eggs of mice. The DNA is taken from a special protein, called GFP, in the jellyfish. Like the jellyfish, the mice emit green light, produced from the GFP reproduced in cells throughout the bodies of the mice, they said.
"We have found that this characteristic is passed down to offspring," Okabe said. "The result can be used as a 'marker' technology in which only certain cells are made to glow for medical research."