Waiter...Think I'll have the snails............
Fluorescent Hare
Mutant Rabbit Raises
Controversy Over Genetic
Manipulation
abcnews.go.com
French genetic researchers created Alba
for artist Eduardo Kac. Thanks to genes
borrowed from a jellyfish, the albino
rabbit glows green when placed under
special lighting. (Chrystelle
Fontaine/www.ekac.org)
By Amanda Onion
Sept. 18 — In regular light, Alba appears like any
other furry white rabbit. But place her under a
black light, and her eyes, whiskers and fur glow
an otherworldly green.
She could have been a perfect prop for Jefferson
Airplane’s hallucinogenic 1966 song, “White Rabbit,” but
Alba’s co-creator, artist Eduardo Kac, holds much more lofty
intentions for this glow-in-the-dark rabbit.
“[Alba] highlights the fact that transgenic animals are
regular creatures that are as much part of social life as any
other life form,” writes Kac on his Web site devoted to the
rabbit project. Kac is an assistant professor of art and
technology at the School of Art Institute of Chicago.
Scientists Call Project ‘Frivolous’
Kac intended Alba’s birth in February to spark a debate about
the project itself, and about the practice of manipulating
genes in animals for research. Then he hoped to adopt Alba
and take her into his home with his wife and daughter. Kac
says the entire project, which he has dubbed “GFP Bunny”
(for genetic fluorescent gene bunny) is designed to combine
biotechnology, private family life and the social domain of
public opinion into a single furry symbol.
But so far, it seems Kac’s first objective has
overshadowed the others. Scientists at the National Institute
of Agronomic Research in France, which created the rabbit
for Kac, are hesitating to release the rabbit to him and his
family due to protests over its creation.
Animal rights activists claim the project is a needless and
abusive manipulation of an animal, while scientists who work
with the fluorescent proteins have dismissed the project as
interesting but silly.
“There’s nothing dangerous about it, as far as we know,”
says Woodland Hastings, a biologist at Harvard University
and co-discoverer of the jellyfish’s glowing gene and its
function. “But the project is rather frivolous. There are many
more important things you can do with these genes.”
The French scientists created Alba using a process called
zygote microinjection. In this process, the scientists plucked
a fluorescent protein from a species of fluorescent jellyfish
called Aequorea victoria. Then they modified the gene to
make its glowing properties twice as powerful. This gene,
called EGFG (for enhanced genetic fluorescent gene) was
then inserted into a fertilized rabbit egg cell that eventually
grew into Alba.
As the cell divided, the “green gene” also replicated and
made its way into every cell of Alba’s body.
Glowing Mice
This isn’t the first time a mammal has been designed to
glow. In 1997 Tokyo scientists added glowing jellyfish genes
to mice. The mice, however, were created for research
purposes — to provide animal models for studying biological
processes and diseases.
As Hasting explains, the luminescent jellyfish genes can
be used to tag certain genes or proteins. When that protein
is active, scientists can detect its fluorescence under a black
light. When it’s inactive, no fluorescence appears.
That kind of tracing ability allows scientists to watch the
effectiveness of potential drugs as they affect the body
without using surgery. For example, anti-cancer genes can
be inserted with the glowing genes so a light source is all
that is needed to learn if genetic manipulation is successful.
Hasting adds that in the future the technology may also
help guide surgeons as they cut away cancerous genes
during surgery.
“If you can make a particular gene glow, then you should
be able to see when and where a cancer cells is,” he says.
“That can localize the cancer and help the surgeon know
where to cut.”
Osamu Shimomura, a biologist at Woods Hole Marine
Biological Laboratory and one of the first to detect the
glowing gene in Aequorea victoria, is now working on
developing variations of the gene for disease research. He
calls Kac’s rabbit project “interesting, but not too important.”
Neon Beer?
Variations of the jellyfish’s glowing genes have been used in
another relatively non-scientific application. In December, a
company called Prolume began marketing squirt guns loaded
with replicated versions of the genes. The liquid squirts like
water, but lights up when it comes in contact with a person,
or any substance containing calcium.
Other researchers are working on developing
glow-in-the-dark hair mousse, ink and cake frosting. There is
even preliminary research underway to produce
glow-in-the-dark beer and champagne.
Still, Lisa Lange, the director of policy and
communications at People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, points out these other applications of glow genes
don’t take advantage of an animal’s life.
“I think creating this rabbit a silly and wasteful thing to
do,” says Lange.
Mission Accomplished
Kac’s supporters point out, however, that furry Alba has
already drawn attention to the often-overlooked, living
creations of genetic research. And that is just what the artist
hoped would happen.
“Regardless what you believe about his work — at least it
gives people in the public a chance to react to what is going
on in the scientific community,” says Laurie Rosenow, a
fellow with Institute for Science, Law and Technology in
Illinois. “Sometimes it’s important to bring what people in
white coats do into the public forum.” |
