World's first glow in the dark sheep

Since the beginning of civilization, humans have been experimenting with animal breeding for our own gain. Today, advances in biotechnology have given us the freedom to manipulate animals.  This manipulation of animals has led to an increase in knowledge in animal and human disease.  Yet not all of the benefits have been strictly academic, as many have profited from this advance in biotechnology.

In October 2012, scientists at Uruguay ‘s Institute of Animal Reproduction have come up with the world’s first glow in the dark sheep. The scientists achieved this by modifying the gene of nine sheep using a green fluorescent protein found in the Aequarea Victoria jellyfish. As a result, the sheep emit a glowing green color when exposed to ultraviolet light.

As trivial as glowing sheep can sound, in Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts, Emily Anthes shows us how public opinion on biotechnology can change with personal exposure. For example, she writes about how GloFish sales have been high despite public opinion showing that most Americans are opposed to lab grown animals. Foley mentions glow in the dark knitwear in his article that will make people green; which could potentially be used in the future. If this becomes available to the masses, than this too has the potential to affect public opinion for good or bad.

Fish and sheep that glow are just the tip of the iceberg for biotechnology. The fact that we already made these type of manipulations in animals means that there is much more potential to make even greater manipulations than those of the past. For example, there may come a day where the wool of a sheep can be manipulated to repel mosquitos and humans will no longer have to worry about mosquito bites while they wear certain types of wool.

References:

Anthes, Emily. Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts.1^st Edition. New York: Scientific American, 2013. Print.

Foley, James A. "Glow-in-the-dark Sheep: Genetically Modified At Uruguay Lab [VIDEO]." Nature World News RSS. N.p., 27 Apr. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.