Glowing Chinese Pig Passes Traits to Young

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."

Comments

Glow in the dark bacon?

[Clay Pigeon -TPF-VS-]

I can just see all the bacon dishes using this in the future if the meat glows too.

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[the_humeister]

Not if you cook the meat. Cooking temperatures generally denature protein and render them without function, unless they're prions...

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[primadd]

Ahh damn! Lets figure out how to make prions glow in the dark!

--
tired of having 20+ bookmarking icons on your site?

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[Satan's Crowbar]

Glowing bacon...sounds like something you get off ThinkGeek.

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[oliverthered]

that just leaves glow in the dark ham.... yummy

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[Hatta]

GFP is actually remarkably stable due to its barrel like structure that protects the chromophore within. This 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 too when it cools, so you might actually get to enjoy a meal of green ham and eggs.

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[gnarlin]

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:Glow in the dark bacon?

[BarryJacobsen]

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:Glow in the dark bacon?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck off, spammer.

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[g-san]

Obviously you are in the camp against bacon sashimi.

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[Anonymous Coward]

this was actually a good joke, and it flew over your head by a wide margin

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[rts008]

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 ahead and puke yer socks up. (yes, you WILL)

5. Go to any 'black light' environment/party and freak out the normals.

All of your mucous membraneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucous_membrane will glow the color of the CNS's used in #'s 1 & 2 above.
In addition, the same color will show in your ejaculate, urine, and feces if exhibited under 'black light' conditions....enjoy!

Re:Glow in the dark bacon?

[Kelbear]

... 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?!

tagged 'glowpiglets'

[FooAtWFU]

Because I always wanted fluorescent transplant organs! :)

Let em loose into the wild!

[tomblag]

And let's see how long they last versus night predators.

Re:Let em loose into the wild!

[the_humeister]

Seeing as there usually isn't an ultraviolet light source in the wild at night, probably nothing much different than non-GFP pigs.

Re:Let em loose into the wild!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why did you have to spoil a funny joke? ...Cranky pants

Re:Let em loose into the wild!

[RuBLed]

And let's see how long they last versus night predators.

or to some lvl 70 farmer out there...

Re:Let em loose into the wild!

[mr_mischief]

What the hell... one of these things might keep the damn moths away from the windows at least.

Re:Let em loose into the wild!

[Codifex Maximus]

>> 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:Let em loose into the wild!

[peipas]

It could be a fair fight if they are being hunted by cats that glow as well.

Think of...

[kcbanner]

...how popular you'll be when you show everyone your glowing...appendage...at the party!

Genetics

[phonex98]

So let me get this straight: A gene is passed on down a generation. why is this news ?

Re:Genetics

[Valdrax]

The other parent doesn't have matching genes. We can add genes to pigs (like those needed to make more human-compatible organs for transplant) and expect the traits to be passed down the line.

Re:Genetics

[mr_mischief]

It's news because putting new and odd genetic modifications into large mammals is a tad newish. Having them passed successfully rather than culled out of the gene pool by massive failure of the original animal, sterility, natural recoding in the sexual reproduction process, or unviable offspring is interesting.

Oh, and having a farm-fresh human liver for drunk Uncle Sal is Stuff That Matters.

Re:Genetics

[BeanThere]

It's "news" because it's "new" (thats where the word comes from).

If one feels a need to try show that one is more "clever" than those around them, who presumably naively think some news is new, one can actually easily "demonstrate" ANY news to not be "new" by twisting or distilling it into another different or more generic form that isn't new in and of itself. For example if someone wins an election and it's in the news, you can say "Let me get this straight: There was an election and someone won. why is this news ?" ... see how easy that is? I swear someone pulls this lame 'not news' nonsense in virtually every slashdot thread.

Green eggs and ham

[DavidJSimpson]

No! No! No! I wanted "Green eggs" and "ham". Not "Green eggs and ham". Green eggs. Not green ham.

Re:Green eggs and ham

[fbartho]

Are you sam?

Re:Green eggs and ham

[MBGMorden]

It's good that you're dismissing the green ham, but really, I think we can narrow it to: if it ain't a plant and it's green, it's bad.

Re:Green eggs and ham

[reverseengineer]

I could not, would not, on a boat.
I will not, will not, with a goat.
I will not eat them in the rain.
I will not eat them on a train.
Not in the dark! Not in a tree!
Not in a car! You let me be!
I do not like them in a box.
I do not like them with a fox.
I will not eat them in a house.
I do not like them with a mouse.
I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them ANYWHERE!

Re:Green eggs and ham

[Bieeanda]

You're a picky bastard, Sam I Am.

Re:Green eggs and ham

[arotenbe]

Today's lesson: Sam's Algebra

Operator &: Conjunction
Operator =>: Description
=> has precedence over &
=> is distributive
 
Examples:
  Green => eggs & ham = GOOD
  Green => (eggs & ham) = Green => eggs & Green => ham = BAD
  eggs & Green => ham = SLASHDOT_STORY

Next time, the Fish Color Calculus.

Re:Green eggs and ham

[mr_mischief]

Nicholas Negroponte is on line one for you. He wants to know if you work for Intel or Microsoft, and when you'll stop dissing the XO. ;-)

Re:Green eggs and ham

[mooingyak]

The cover art does it the other way:

Green eggs and Ham

Re:Green eggs and ham

[Dutch Gun]

I am.

racists

[Anonymous Coward]

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

[theMerovingian]

The preferred nomenclature is "sino-porcine phosphorents".

Slashdot is so insensitive towards racial discrimination.

no bacon for those guys (hopefully)

[Anonymous Coward]

That'll do pig, that'll do.

dining in the future

[jollyreaper]

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:dining in the future

[Fry-kun]

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

[jollyreaper]

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.

Re:dining in the future

[Anonymous Coward]

At least you'd have good reason to believe it's not a dog or a cat.

Re:dining in the future

[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:dining in the future

[xtracto]

You are thinking of Methylene Blue. Which was used against malaria until people rejected it for turning their urine green.

Pork Fried rice will never be the same

[infonography]

Food critics will now have only glowing comments about it.

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

Re:Pork Fried rice will never be the same

[Kawahee]

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.

Re:Pork Fried rice will never be the same

[Anonymous Coward]

Why a you gotta hate on a Mario?

Glowing Pigs!

[Kohath]

Glowing Pigs. Glowing Pigs dude. Pigs glowing in the dark! That's why.

Re:Glowing Pigs!

[BeanThere]

Indeed that is one new thing, but there are several 'new' things in the video:

- Glowing Pigs!
- Basically the first genetically modified mammals where the new gene is in every cell of the animal's body
- The first genetically modified mammals where the new gene is passed on to new generations - we're directly changing and re-engineering mammalian species now, this is a huge milestone
- An implanted gene that allows brand new avenues and possibilities for medical research / imaging - injected cells with glow-genes function as a biomarker - this has never been done before in this way, and opens up other interesting new possibilities
- Glowing genetically modified fish
- Genetically modified fish with gene 'switches' allowing fish to be used as pollution indicators
- First genetically modified animals on sale to the public as pets (and thus also indirectly, likely to end up in the wild again at some point) - although we've had many other methods of modifying animals before (e.g. selective breeding), this is a whole new level, and this literally represents a new era for mankind and the planet as a whole

GP can sit in his "cynical corner" if he wants and think he's smarter by pretending there's nothing new here, but I think this is exciting in many ways.

Time to create a whistling crayfish

[Fry-kun]

If you read Russian, check out When a crayfish whistled by Teffi

Re:Time to create a whistling crayfish

[patio11]

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?

[debatem1]

I realize it's dark in there but this seems a little extreme...

Re:glowing organ transplant?

[cliffiecee]

its the Ultimate "case mod".

Don't say such nasty things about Chairman Mao!

[Anonymous Coward]

You'll end up with /. Ninjas after you!!!

Falsified Photos?

[skelly33]

I raise the BS flag on this image. 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?

[Anonymous Coward]

you're not wrong, you're just dumb.

they glow under UV light, they dont emit their own light

Re:Falsified Photos?

[Anonymous Coward]

The pigs glow green under ultraviolet light. Under visible light they look perfectly normal.

Re:Falsified Photos?

[reverseengineer]

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:Falsified Photos?

[bar-agent]

Fluorescent, bioluminescent, phosphorescent...

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

Re:Falsified Photos?

[Anonymous Coward]

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

None of the men here have been laid. That's why we're discussing the technical.

Re:Falsified Photos?

[omris]

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 spectrum of light at something. some wavelengths are absorbed, some reflected. the reflected ones are the ones you see. so if it looks red, that means that red light is bouncing off, and blue light isn't. but if you only shine blue light it will NOT look red, since there is no red light to bounce off and be seen.

in fluorescence, a certain wavelength of light will be absorbed by the protein, the energy used to emit light at a completely different wavelength. so, sticking with the previous example, you shine blue light at your object, you see red light. the object absorbed the blue and changed it to red.

the fluorescent protien they used happens to absorb UV (which is not really visible to you) and turn it into green light (which is). you can see the difference in the emitted light in the shape of the shadow from the illumination source. make sense? UV is a very common fluorescent light activator because it's just a bit higher energy wavelength than the human visible spectrum and therefore, when you lose a little bit of energy in changing the wavelength, it becomes visible. quite helpful scientifically.

it's easier to grasp visually in person than in a photo, but you can trust me: i'm from the internet.

Re:Falsified Photos?

[jtcm]

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.

Re:Falsified Photos?

[skelly33]

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 charge up with a similar light and which continue to glow for several minutes after the illumination is removed. And thank you to the AC kiddies for the mindless reflections of manhood and intelligence - it's most enlightening.

Ob FZ reference

[mudshark]

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

Damn

[ShawnCplus]

If they grow wings we're screwed

Re:Damn

[dgatwood]

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.

Re:Damn

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, salute the Beowulf cluster of our flying, glowing Chinese pig overlords who, in Russia, ... profit!!!

Re:Damn

[Baby Duck]

Not really. Flying pigs entertain us when standing outside in long movie lines. Haven't you watched Kids in the Hall?

Re:Damn

[ShawnCplus]

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

Actually it's Methylene BLUE

[spineboy]

It's a blue dye, that passes harmlessly through your system, often used in medical procedures.

What does the pig think?

[CodyRazor]

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.

Re:What does the pig think?

[niteice]

we dont want it spoiling the meat

So much for the pudding.

Welcome

[Eric Smith]

I, for one, welcome our lambent porcine overlords.

Another commercial use

[xebecv]

Pimp my kidneys!

insane

[Anonymous Coward]

leave the pigs alone, make your own offspring fluorescent.

Re:insane

[omris]

there are a few issues with that. first off, just making them glow is not terribly useful. usually you have to take tissue samples and do some science-y stuff. usually you can't do that to a living thing. sometimes it's possible, but frequently not. so you can either wait for them to die on their own or kill them. humans live too long, and you get charged with those pesky felonies if you try to kill them. "it's all in the name of science" you will say, as they drag you to the pokey. but they will not care. you'll have wasted your life trying to do medical science without being cruel to the poor little animals. too bad your great grandchildren might still die sitting on the organ transplant wait list. at least you didn't kill any animals.

Re:whiners

[Slugster]

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 apologize to me for all the times that people call Porsches "German cars". He refused, and so did I.

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".
~

Re:whiners

[BeanThere]

*Whoosh!!*

Re:whiners

[BeanThere]

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.

What about Miss Piggy?

[The High Druid]

I guess Kermit won't be alone anymore when he sings "It's not easy being green"

Missing the major point: Lamarckism.

[7times9]

Lamarckism:

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.

Re:Missing the major point: Lamarckism.

[Anonymous Coward]

You would be completely wrong. The original pig was cloned and in that cloning process the altered DNA was added. As a result all of the cells in the cloned pig have the altered DNA. Then, as expected, when that pig produced offspring, portioned of that altered DNA was copied to the young and they exhibit the same traits. That is standard evolution.

Re:Missing the major point: Lamarckism.

[drunken_boxer777]

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.

Not Radioactive, Genetic!

[Dareth]

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.

Spidy Pig

[Anonymous Coward]

Spider-Pig Spider-Pig. I am just saying Homer was on to something. They have already crossed a goat with a spider. So why not a pig with a spider. You get a ham that netually wraps its self in that net bag thing.

Man-Bear-Pig can not be far off.

Gamma Radiation

[crakbone]

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

[harl]

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

Re:Doom

[omris]

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:Doom

[harl]

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:Doom

[omris]

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 bypasses the thousands of hybrid stages it would have taken to successfully move a gene from one species to another even if the two were very closely related. more importantly, it restricts the transfer to only the gene you want to insert, as opposed to the 50% transfer you'd have to accept to cross them manually. they are doing the same thing humans have been doing since we started moving away from the hunt/gather plan. they are far more specific than any previous method, which could ONLY serve to make the process more exact, less prone to non-specific changes, and therefore safer. by a few orders of magnitude, at least. oh, also faster. and therefore more rapidly adaptable to being useful. but certainly not less safe. even the most basic grasp of HOW modern genetic manipulation is done should alleviate any fears about "franken-food" or other such nonsense.

Re:Doom

[Anonymous Coward]

so, gene-modding will cause a gene to transfer from one organism to another? Yes. This article is about exactly that. Parent organism to child organism. Couple that with mutation through normal means and we're fucked.

You're making up your own points and then trying to troll via them. Sorry not feeding ya.

Re:Doom

[omris]

my intention is not at all to troll. rather, i'd like people to actually understand the impossibility of the scenario they present. a gene cannot spontaneously "transfer" from one individual to another, much less from one species to another. in the lab, we can take advantage of certain organisms to make that happen. it isn't easy. it fails more often than it succeeds. once the gene has been moved, it does not retain the ability to move again. the worst case scenario is the random mutation that would somehow allow the gene set to retain that movement ability, coupled with the random mutation that would allow it a place to move to other than the place the researchers intended, coupled with the introduction of these two individuals with these two particular random mutations. in addition, they would have to be in the small percentage of gene introductions that succeeds. this constellation of chance is possible. but the chances that your child will have a spontaneous, inheritable mutation to be fluorescent green in the first place is just as likely as any ONE of those other random mutations. as you can tell by the HUGE quantity of glowing green people in the general population, it's a pretty slim chance. once you add in each other factor, and the chance of that factor happening, the possibility becomes ridiculous. and the benefits of the technology are quite difficult to ignore. even if it were an actual risk, it might be worth it. besides, the world is not actually going to end even if you DO catch fluorescent green genes from your ham. i promise.

I'm holding out for the bioluminescent ones.

[pavon]

That would be quite the bar trick if your liver started glowing when it processed alcohol, all ET style.

I sense a disturbance in the jews!

[gnarlin]

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.

Thank Effing God I Have Lived To See These Days

[BigBlueOx]

At long, long last we have pigs that glow under UV light. And iPhones.

So most of you are just laughing this off but

[museumpeace]

don't you think this brings us a step closer to the "pigoons" of Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake ?

Hogwash!

[quasius]

I actually don't really have anything to say here. I kinda blew all my material on the subject line...

I don't get it

[ThePsion5]

If the animal's genes were altered, why wouldn't those genetic changes be passed on to its young?

Re:I don't get it

[omris]

it does make sense. the thing is that the techniques used to change the genes in the first place are not always perfect, nor are the imperfections easy to observe. so you didn't know for sure that every cell was being changed. or that the change wouldn't affect the animal's ability to reproduce. the big thing this serves to show is that the introduced genes ARE indeed getting added to EVERY cell in the parent pig, including the reproductive cells. it's not that hard to add genes to SOME cells. this happens all of the time. getting it to ALL the cells is harder. looking at the offspring is really just an elegant way to detect something in the parent that is hard to observe. "yeah, i'm gonna need you to check the DNA in every cell in the pig. yeah. i'm also gonna need you to some in saturday. yeah, that'd be great."

body mod's at a whole new level

[BlueshiftVFX]

pshhh what a nerd, Tattoos are for losers, real men get glowing liver transplants.

Re:body mod's at a whole new level

[Macgrrl]

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.

huh?

[blackraven14250]

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:huh?

[omris]

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 well to humans down the road. it would be revolutionize medical research.

Re:huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then a pig gets out. Maybe freed by animal rights activists/terrorists. Released pig(s) spreads the gene to the population at large. Said gene is now in the wild and has potentially significant impact on natural ecology.

Mod them at the egg level and sterilize them.

Re:huh?

[omris]

1. that's not a bad idea, although grampa did say all the dinosaurs were girls and all that. a safer option would probably be to place genetic safeguards, like a gene set that keeps them from hybridizing with non-liver pigs, or surviving without a dedicated lab staff (like a genetic deformity that can easily be cured with minor surgery... maybe all the liver pigs also get umbilical hernias). once you've gotten to that stage, it shouldn't be that difficult. the whole idea was to have a source of organs that didn't require genetic mods for each one produced... one that could reproduce true on it's own. 2. i find it hard to believe that an animal with that severe of modifications would have great survivability. they would probably be dropping like flies already. i suspect that the chances of one surviving outside a controlled environment would be low. and the chances that they would make it to another breeding population of pigs, low. and the chances that they would successfully pass on genes, low. and the chances that a gene set for an extra human liver would be selected for in the natural pig population, instead of dying out rapidly like most mutations, low. it is a concern though, and it should be addressed. but it really isn't the doom scenario most people think. OH WAIT. you meant the animal rights terrorists? never mind. sterilizing them is a GREAT idea.

Ahh

[Anonymous Coward]

Spiderpig, spiderpig....

har har so it goes with spelling nazies

[Anonymous Coward]

Did I just Godwin this discussion?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law