how have scientists used biotechnology to create "glowing mice"?

Question

 Please help me because i don't know the answer. and i need it. soo please help.

Answer 1

Lexi,

 

Glowing mouse has been created by transgenic technology that has inserted firefly luciferase gene in mouse. The gene is driven by a promoter that expresses the protein in mouse skin and therefore the skin glows in the same way as firefly glows in the dark.

 

A transgenic mouse strain is created by injecting desired DNA construct with appropriate promoter and gene of interest (in this case firefly luciferase gene) in one cell mouse embryos, these are obtained from a just pregnant mouse mother. The injected embryos are transferred to the uterus of a foster mother by surgery. Somehow the mother smells and realizes that they are not her babies and therefore, she might kill them. Researchers separate newly born babies from foster mother, nurse them and test their tail DNA to check if they are transgenic, implying if they have the injected gene inserted in their genome. Transgenic is isolated and propagated in the lab by sibling mating to obtain a pure-bred line of the transgenic strain. Such strain of glowing mice is then maintained in the lab. Jackson lab in Bar Harbor, Maine, maintains thousand of transgenic mouse strains.  You can go on their website and read more about transgenic glowing mice.

 

Hope it helps,

Answer 2

You can do an online search using the term "glowing mice." You'll quickly find links telling how scientists alter the mouse genes using DNA from another animal that glows naturally.