Glowing Kitties may help in HIV/AIDS Research

Who knew their was a feline version called FIV? Learn something new everyday. Do dogs have their own verision?

Benjamin Franklin once advised a friend to take older women to bed because, figuratively speaking, "in the dark all cats are gray." Well, not these kittehs.

Researchers in the U.S. and Japan have developed green-glowing kittens with resistance to the feline version of AIDS, which may help work on AIDS research in humans.

In a study published in Nature Methods, researchers from the Mayo Clinic and Yamaguchi University took a genome approach to producing cats that are apparently resistant to feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), a deadly condition that attacks infection-fighting T-cells as AIDS does.

The researchers including Mayo Clinic molecular biologist Eric Poeschla inserted genes into feline eggs before sperm fertilization. They added a gene for a rhesus macaque protein, known as a "restriction factor," that can prevent infection by FIV, and a jellyfish gene for tracking the cells that also makes the kitties glow a spooky green.

Source: news.cnet.com...

I want a glowing kitten!!!

You didn't know about cats aids?
Them glowing kitties are damn cute though I agree.

Ok, I love cats, but that would be creepy as heck to see at night!

I hope that this research really does help, but I can't help wondering if there are any side effects to the cat?

You would never lose your cat again
You would never need a nightlight
The cat would be all but a meal in the wild


And they glow

I want one now please.

reply to post by chiefsmom


I bet the main side effect is the cat has a hard time getting a good nights rest because its glowing keeps waking them up.