科学家培育出“夜光兔”

Researchers from the universities of Istanbul and Hawaii hope the technique can lead to new ways to produce medicines.

As part of an effort to improve treatments for life-threatening illnesses, a team of scientists have created rabbits that glow in the dark.

Their efforts produced two rabbits out of a litter of eight that went from being a normal, fluffy white to glowing green in the dark. The rabbits were born at the University of Istanbul as part of a collaboration between scientists from universities in Turkey and Hawaii.

The rabbits glow to show that a genetic manipulation technique can work efficiently, though the specific color is more cosmetic than scientific. "The green is not important at all – it's just a marker to show the experiment can be done successfully," said University of Hawaii associate professor Stefan Moisyadi.

To produce the glowing effect, researchers injected jellyfish DNA into a mother rabbit's embryos. Those altered embryos were then inserted back into the mother. Similar experiments have resulted in glowing cockroaches and cats.

Eventually, the researchers hope the technique can lead to new ways to produce medicines, Moisyadi said.

"The final goal is to develop animals that act as barrier reactives to produce beneficial molecules in their milk that can be cheaply extracted, especially in countries that can not afford big pharma plants that make drugs, that usually cost $1bn to build, and be able to produce their own protein-based medication in animals," Moisyadi said.

The rabbits are expected to have the same life span as their non-glowing counterparts, but Moisyadi said he understands people can object to this kind of experimentation involving live animals.

"To the people against, I say: think about, what are the benefits and what are the injuries?" Moisyadi said. "And if the benefits outweigh the injuries, let's go with the benefits."

Moisyadi, a native of Turkey who is now with the University of Hawaii, started developing the project in 2006, and researchers are now waiting to see if pregnant sheep produce similar results.

据英国《卫报》8月13日报道，伊斯坦布尔和夏威夷大学的研究人员培育出能在黑暗中发光的兔子。

经过研究人员的努力，一窝8只兔子中有两只兔子正常情况是白色的，在黑暗中却发出绿光。这两只兔子出生在伊斯坦布尔大学，是土耳其和夏威夷大学的科学家们合作的结晶。

“绿色根本不重要，它不过是证明实验能够取得成功的标志。”夏威夷大学副教授斯特凡·莫伊斯雅迪说。

为了使之产生发光效果，研究人员在母兔的胚胎中注入水母的DNA，再把这些变异的胚胎植回母体。类似的实验曾经培育出发光的蟑螂和猫。

莫伊斯雅迪表示，研究人员希望该技术最终能产生生产药物的新方法。他说，他们的最终目标是培育乳汁中含有有益分子的动物，用于生产以蛋白质为基础的药物，特别是承担不起大型制药厂的国家。

这些兔子的寿命预计与不发光的兔子一样。莫伊斯雅迪说，他知道人们可能会反对这种涉及活体动物的实验。“我对反对的人说：想一想，好处是什么，坏处又是什么？如果好处大于坏处，就让我们前进吧。”

莫伊斯雅迪是土耳其人，目前在夏威夷大学工作。他从2006年开始开发这个项目，现在，研究人员正等着看怀孕的绵羊是否能产生同样的结果。