9:21am UK, Wednesday January 31, 2007

Pigs may still not be able to fly, but three of them can now glow bright green. ....

Scientists in Taiwan have used jellyfish genes to breed three porkers with a difference.

180 glowing green pigs genetic engineering taiwan

The pigs will help research

They look particularly green round the nose, eyes and trotters under normal light, and glow bright green under flourescent light.

The move is designed to help research into stem cell treatments for disease.

"There are partially fluorescent green pigs elsewhere," said Wu Shinn-Chih, assistant professor of animal science at the National Taiwan University.

"But ours are the only ones in the world that are green from inside out."

He added: "Even their hearts and internal organs are green."

Prof Wu said the fluorescent cells would show up during stem cell treatment of diseased organs, allowing physicians to monitor the healing progress.

"We hope it can help with future stem cell research by cutting down on the time researchers expend," he said.

Last year, another team of Taiwanese researchers claimed they had come up with an alternative to mice for testing new medicines.

They used fluorescent fish to show the impact of experimental drugs on cancerous tumours.