Ruppy (short for Ruby Puppy) is the world's first
transgenic
A transgene is a gene that has been transferred naturally, or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques, from one organism to another. The introduction of a transgene, in a process known as transgenesis, has the potential to change the ...
dog.
A cloned
beagle
The beagle is a breed of small scent hound, similar in appearance to the much larger foxhound. The beagle was developed primarily for hunting hare, known as beagling. Possessing a great sense of smell and superior tracking instincts, the ...
, Ruppy and four other beagles produce a fluorescent protein that glows red upon excitation with ultraviolet light.
Ruppy was created in 2009 by a group of scientists in South Korea, led by Byeong-Chun Lee. The dog was cloned using viral transfection of fibroblasts cells which expresses the red fluorescent gene. The nucleus of the transfected
fibroblast
A fibroblast is a type of cell (biology), biological cell that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and collagen, produces the structural framework (Stroma (tissue), stroma) for animal Tissue (biology), tissues, and plays a critical role in wound ...
was then inserted into the
enucleated oocyte
An oocyte (, ), oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female ...
of another dog, leading to generation of dog oocytes expressing the red fluorescent protein. These cloned embryos were then implanted into the
uterus
The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The uter ...
of a
surrogate
A surrogate is a substitute or deputy for another person in a specific role and may refer to:
Relationships
* Surrogacy, an arrangement where a woman agrees to carry and give birth to a child for another person who will become its parent at bi ...
mother.
It was hoped to use this procedure to investigate the effect of the hormone
oestrogen
Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal activ ...
on fertility.
The ruppy puppy was then shipped to the north of Croatia where it was thoroughly examined by doctor Lisa Dajci who clarified that the puppy could in fact be classed in the dog species even though it had not been born 100 percent naturally it did still have all the characteristics of the species.
References
2009 animal births
Cloned dogs
Genetically modified organisms
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