Cloned Cats Glow in the Dark
Cat lovers... listen up!

If you need to find your pet in the event of, let's say, a power outage... have no fear.

Researchers in South Korea have bred cats that glow in the dark.

At first glance, these cats look like any normal cat.

But there are two big things which make them very different.

One, the cats are clones.

Two, they glow in the dark.

You heard right.

When they're put underneath ultraviolet light, they glow a dull red.

And it's no accident.

Scientists manipulated the donor cat's genetic code,

then passed those changes on to the clones.

It's meaningful as we introduce outside genes to transgenic cloned cats for the first time.

And as they have the red fluorescent protein gene in their organs,

they give off a red color.

Here's how they did it.

Scientists took skin cells from a Turkish angora female cat

and used a virus to insert the genetic instructions for making red fluorescent protein.

Then they put the gene-altered nuclei into eggs for cloning.

After that, they implanted the eggs back into the donor cat

which effectively became the surrogate mother.

Now these glow-in-the-dark cats shine a light on what may be possible down the road.

Scientists say if you can pass along coding for fluorescent markers through cloning,

you could eventually pass along more complex genetic coding.

That means cats could help develop treatments for diseases, for animals and for humans.

After all, researchers say there are some 250 diseases which affect cats and humans.

In theory, leaving a warm, healthy, fuzzy glow ― many more than just their nine lives.

Even the tongue glows in the dark.

Now, it's unlikely that glowing kittens will be in pet stores anytime soon,

given the debate about the ethics of creating cloned animals.

So if you really want to fire up your cat,

you just need to buy a glow-in-the-dark collar for now.