Glowing in the dark cats, dogs and fish: a new era of pets

Not so long ago, cats or dogs glowing in the dark were only characters in science fiction films, and today it has become a reality. It is likely that soon these exotic pets will compete with the elite dog and cat breeds. True, the owners of such animals at first will have to get used to the unusual properties of their pets and not be scared at night when they see a “ghost” in a dark corridor.

Initially, these animals were created as part of medical experiments. The first cats to glow red in the dark were animals that were bred in 2007 in South Korea. Their creation was made possible thanks to genetic engineering: scientists introduced a gene into the DNA of cats that is responsible for the production of a particular protein. The presence of this protein provides red fluorescence, as, for example, in some jellyfish. In daylight, these cats looked fuller usually, and their fantastic properties showed up only in the dark.

And already in 2011, American geneticists were able to get cats that glowed in the dark with a green light. To do this, they introduced a gene of green fluorescent protein of marine jellyfish into the DNA of embryos. Since the gene responsible for the production of fluorescent protein was isolated from marine jellyfish in 1994, geneticists have created several animals that glow in the dark. Among them were fish, mice, rabbits and dogs.

All these experiments were carried out as part of medical experiments to combat human diseases. So, for example, cats have several common diseases with humans, and the luminous protein gene acted as a marker for another gene, which was also transplanted into cats. In addition, luminous cats participated in experiments to develop drugs against wild feline diseases, such as the feline immunodeficiency virus in lions and tigers. Thus, initially glowing cats were created for important research.

But experts predict unusual cats and dogs a great commercial future. For example, luminous aquarium fish, which were also created for scientific purposes, have already moved into the category of pets, which can soon happen with other animals.