Supercow and pigs that glow at night.

[kittykatkarma]

And in the news today, a menagerie of genetically modified animals. There is something for everyone here... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=414142&in_page_id=1770

"[A] giant cow, three times the size of ordinary cattle, reared without fat to produce gallons of milk."

"There are also glow-in the dark pigs and goats which produce spider's silk."​

I understand the need for higher milk production, and that spider silk offers a lightweight alternative to carbon fiber because it's stronger and more flexible than steel. I'm just not sure that glow-in the dark pigs have a real need.

Please share your thoughts genetically modified animals, is it the right thing to do? And if so, to what end? On a more humorous note, share your thoughts for the ideal genetically modified animal and what purpose it would serve.

 

[Hellbound]

We've technically been genetically modifying animals since the first one was domesticated. Now, though, we have far greater precision and control than simply breeding lines that look pretty good and seeing what comes out.

And glow-in-the-dark pigs might be something different than what we're thinking, they don't really give any detail. COnsidering the article is more about teh new TV season than genetic engineering, I'd take it with a grain of salt

In any case, I think genetic engineering of domestic animals is a good thing. We can inprove the quality of meat or milk for various animals, the quantity produced, make modifcations to reduce disease and other loss in the populations, increase yeild per acre, provide additional nutrients, grow in formerly unfarmable areas, and so on and so forth. Not to mention the non-food possibilities, such as the spider's silk and other manufacturing. Genetic engineering of microbes has allowed for effective ways to clean up oil spills, and other varieties provide all sorts of functions, from waste recycling to cehmical synthesis to production of medicines.

Ideal genetically modified animal? A cow that produces milk in skim, 2%, and whole varities (and yogurt from the fourth udder), and when reaching the proper age automatically produces a chemical reaction that cooks itself to medium rare and causes it to fall apart into cuts.

But that's just me

 

[Amapola]

Well, the article was not real accurate........ You can read a little bit more about the Belgian Blue cattle here. This is now a meat breed, not a dairy breed. (It was originally dual purpose, back in the 1800s.) The article implies the breed was created through modern genetic manipulation in a laboratory, but it is actually a fairly old breed, created by the "usual" method of genetic manipulation, selection of phenotype.

I thought the goats were interesting and they WERE created by using modern techniques in a lab.

Genetic manipulation of this type is pretty cool in my view...... the benefits are clearly there. I think we need to be sure and protect our biodiversity in domesticated animals, but as long as people are careful to do that, I think this is a great thing.

One thing to keep in mind is that something like huge cattle require huge amounts of feed, so they may not give that much of a benefit. Those bulls don't get to be over 1,700 lbs by the age of 2 years by standing around breathing air.

Best genetically modified animal? Well, usually what happens is you shovel feed down their throats and out the other end you get something you would rather not have on your boots. How about an animal that produces coin of the realm as a by-product? Sort of like this T-shirt.

 

[kittykatkarma]

Well, the article was not real accurate........ You can read a little bit more about the Belgian Blue cattle here. This is now a meat breed, not a dairy breed. (It was originally dual purpose, back in the 1800s.) The article implies the breed was created through modern genetic manipulation in a laboratory, but it is actually a fairly old breed, created by the "usual" method of genetic manipulation, selection of phenotype.

I thought the Belgian Blue pictured in the original article looked more like a meat breed than a dairy breed. Thanks for the updated link and info. Agreed, the goat is pretty interesting.

Best genetically modified animal? Well, usually what happens is you shovel feed down their throats and out the other end you get something you would rather not have on your boots. How about an animal that produces coin of the realm as a by-product? Sort of like this T-shirt.

When this breed is perfected, I'll take two please.

 

[kittykatkarma]

A bit more about the glow-in-the-dark pigs ~

"The pigs were created at the department of Animal Science and Technology at Taiwan National University and are being used to study and find solutions for human diseases. The scientists say that the glowing properties of the pigs make it possible to monitor and detect stem cell growth without requiring operational procedures to be done." Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=262

Really very interesting.

 

[Dave1001]

A bit more about the glow-in-the-dark pigs ~

"The pigs were created at the department of Animal Science and Technology at Taiwan National University and are being used to study and find solutions for human diseases. The scientists say that the glowing properties of the pigs make it possible to monitor and detect stem cell growth without requiring operational procedures to be done." Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=262

Really very interesting.

How are they going to publish 2 articles about glow in the dark pigs and neither one has a picture? Science journalists are frickin' teases.

 

[CBVan]

I'm just not sure that glow-in the dark pigs have a real need.

The reason we do anything, ever: Because we can.
Also, glow-in-the-dark bacon would be hilarious - although cooking would likely remove that feature.

Heh. Pork with features, like cars have. Thats the future, IMHO.

 

[kittykatkarma]

How are they going to publish 2 articles about glow in the dark pigs and neither one has a picture? Science journalists are frickin' teases.

Without further delay... http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Health/story?id=1498324

 

[Dave1001]

Without further delay... http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Health/story?id=1498324

[qimg]http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/ap_green_pig_060112_t.jpg[/qimg]

interesting. How about a picture in the dark?

 

[Amapola]

interesting. How about a picture in the dark?

You're really pushing the envelope there, mister..... Why would a journalist think of taking a picture of a glow-in-the-dark pig in the dark? You think these people get paid to think?

 

[Dave1001]

You're really pushing the envelope there, mister..... Why would a journalist think of taking a picture of a glow-in-the-dark pig in the dark? You think these people get paid to think?

That was the best laugh I've had in a while. Thanks for that.

 

[MatterHorn]

The reason we do anything, ever: Because we can. Also, glow-in-the-dark bacon would be hilarious - although cooking would likely remove that feature.

Heh. Pork with features, like cars have. Thats the future, IMHO.

I see it as more of an asset to the pig herders, if your herd ever escapes you just wait for night fall and look for the glowing bushes. Different farms could utilize different colors to prevent confusion. Of course if the yellow farm next to your blue one ever starts producing green pigs, you would know something was up.

On a more serious note I seem to remember some discussion on the idea of using the glow to mark damaged genes, of course now I can't find any of the papers on it so I might very well be wrong.

Edit: I found this paper (med.stanford.edu/genetherapy/pdf/RNArescueNature.pdf) where scientists used glowing versions of disease genes to test the effectiveness of their treatments.

 

[Amapola]

Glad I could help out there, Dave1001.

In the meantime, here is your glow-in-the-dark picture. In this one, the pigs are shown clearly glowing in the dark.

MatterHorn, first welcome! And second, I did not read your link but the article above states that the pigs were made to glow in the dark for stem cell research. Since the pig's cells glow in the dark, their cell growth can be detected without surgery. It would be funny to have your own color-coded pigs, though.