Team of Hawaiian scientists produce a litter of cloned rabbits that glow green in the dark

Experiment could help mass produce medication for genetic diseases

Bunnies bred in Turkey because of controversy over transgenic research

Scientists have bred a colony of rabbits that can glow in the dark in a leap forward for developing medicine for life-threatening genetic diseases.

Researchers in Hawaii and Turkey successfully created the litter of eight rabbits, which included two kits that glow green when the lights are out.



The florescent coloring is an indicator that genetic material injected into the embryos was incorporated into the rabbit's natural make up.

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Glowing: Scientists have created two rabbits that glow in the dark

Ordinary: In daylight the rabbits look the same as their littermate

' It’s just a marker to show that we can take a gene that was not originally in the animal and now exists in the animal,' Dr Stefan Moisyadi, of University of Hawaii, told KITV .

The rabbits, which look identical to their white siblings in daylight, were born at a research center in Turkey.

Life changing: Dr Stefan Moisyadi says the experiment could help mass produce medication

'They live just as long as normal animals do ... and they show no ill effects,' Dr Moisyadi told KHON2 .



He added: 'These rabbits are like a light bulb glowing, like an LED light all over their body.'



The experiment, which used florescent protein from jellyfish, furthers the research started in the 1980s when glow in the dark mice were created.

Since then, scientists have recreated the experiment in kittens, puppies, monkeys and piglets.

While most glow green in the dark, in 2007 South Korean scientists managed to develop cats that glowed red under ultraviolet light, according to the Daily Telegraph .

Scientists hope the research will help them find a way to create cheaper medicine for genetic disorders such as hemophilia.



They plan to replicate the experiment in farm animals, which would then be used as bio-reactors that produce pharmaceuticals.



'[For] patients who suffer from hemophilia and they need the blood clotting enzymes in their blood, we can make those enzymes a lot cheaper in animals with barrier reactives rather than a factory that will cost billions of dollars to build,' Dr Moisyadi said.

Now they have successful created glow in the dark bunnies, the team is planning to create a florescent lamb by November.

Start small: Researchers first created glow in the dark mice and plan to repeat the experiment with farmyard animals

The team would like to bring their research to the U.S. but said bureaucracy and fear of using transgenic animals has prevented it.



'At home, there is this hysteria that transgenic animals should not be used for anything,' Dr Moisyadi said.

