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?

[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?

[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!

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.

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

[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

[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

[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

[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.

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.

glowing organ transplant?

[debatem1]

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

Damn

[ShawnCplus]

If they grow wings we're screwed

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.

Another commercial use

[xebecv]

Pimp my kidneys!