<div>Meet Tegon. She's a beagle and she lives in South Korea.
Oh, and she's been genetically engineered to glow fluorescent green when under ultraviolet light.
Researchers from South Korea have used cloning techniques to create a dog that will let off an impressive green glow when a doxycycline antibiotic is slipped into its food. Without the drug, the dog's superhero powers will fade.
The team from Seoul National University made Tegon using the same somatic cell nuclear transfer technology that they used to create to the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005.
Tegon isn't just a £1.8 million (3.2 billion won) gimmick, though. Because dogs share 268 illnesses with humans, genetically modified dogs can help investigate potential cures for those deadly ailments.
"The creation of Tegon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases," lead researcher Lee Byeong-chun told
Reuters. By triggering a disease like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, researchers can explore new medicines and treatments.
<div>
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
