Two scientists have successfully managed to get pigs to glow green when placed under a black light.

Zhenfang Wu and Zicong Li of the South China Agricultural University used a technique to transfer plasmids (small DNA molecules, separate from the chromosomal DNA within a cell) carrying a fluorescent protein from jellyfish DNA into pig embryos.

It’s called ‘transgenesis’ – and if we get it right (presumably by practicing on pigs and making them glow), then scientists will be able to introduce helpful genes into the DNA of larger animals, so that they can one day create better, cheaper medicines for us humans (by using the enzymes they’ve created in another animals, rather than in a lab).

Successful transgenesis relies on the embryo’s DNA repair machinery to integrate the transferred transgene DNA (in this case, the fluorescent protein from jellyfish) and transmit that property to its offspring.

Crazy, huh?

[Source : Mashable]