A new breed of glowing green kitties may represent a first step in creating cats that are resistant to feline AIDS, and possibly give clues about fighting HIV infections in people.
The kittens are engineered with a gene that makes an antiviral protein that scientists hope will combat feline immunodeficiency virus, or FIV. Another inserted gene makes the cats glow under fluorescent light so scientists can readily confirm the success of the procedure. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn., and Yamaguchi University in Japan report the accomplishment online September 11 in Nature Methods.
HIV has killed millions of people worldwide and infects millions more; FIV is causing a similar worldwide epidemic within the feline population, says study leader Eric Poeschla, a molecular virologist at the Mayo Clinic.