A team of researchers in China just announced that they have created the world's first genetically modified dogs. They possess twice the muscle mass than other dogs.
A team of researchers in China just announced that they have created the first genetically modified dogs of the world. They possess twice the muscle mass than other dogs. The beagles Ercole and Tiangou, which you see in the cover photo, are the first dogs in the world with this alteration.
According to Liangxue Lai, a researcher involved in the project of the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, these dogs are much stronger, more suitable for hunting and to help police squads.
Researchers specifically created this one genetic mutation in dogs Beagle. However, it is a phenomenon that occurs naturally in a particular breed, called Whippet, very robust dogs because their muscles tend to get stronger and swollen a lot.
The news of the Genetically modified beagles in China comes from MIT. Chinese scientists created a Beagle with twice the muscle mass by intervening on a gene called myostatin. Just like in the case of the giant Belgian Blue cows.
Chinese scientists published the results of their research in the Journal of Molecular Cell Biology and said they would create dogs with other DNA mutations, for example to mimic human pathologies such as Parkinson's and muscular dystrophy through these animals.
In short, they want to give life to sick dogs, with ailments similar to those that affect humans, which become models to be studied in biomedical research.
The dogs are found at the Guangzhou General Pharmaceutical Research Institute, which every year uses hundreds of them for biomedical research, which is common in both China and the United States. Animals that have already undergone genetic modification in China include goats, rabbits, rats and monkeys.
It is indeed still necessary that scientific progress be based on extreme exploitation of animals?
It seems that China wants to be at the forefront of the world from the point of view of genetic modifications carried out on animals to obtain an international primacy and for commercial purposes. (to open a new market dedicated to the strongest and most muscular superdogs) rather than out of real interest in discovering new treatments for human diseases.
Once again, unfortunately, economic interests exceed ethical principles and common sense, in this case at the expense of man's best friend.
Marta Albè
Fonte foto: Technology Review
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