Scientists have created glow-in-the-dark rabbits as part of an effort to help improve drugs that could cure life-threatening illnesses.
Their efforts were successful as two out of eight recently born rabbits went from white to glow-in-the-dark green according to ABC News.
The rabbits were born at the University of Istanbul as part of a combined effort between universities in Hawaii and Turkey.
The rabbits reportedly glow in order to show that a "genetic manipulation technique can work efficiently" according to The Guardian.
"The green is not important at all, it's just a marker to show the experiment can be done successfully," said University of Hawaii associate professor Stefan Moisyadi, according to The Guardian.
In order to produce the glowing effect, experts had to inject jellyfish DNA into a mother rabbit's embryos. The changed embryos were then placed back into the mother according to ABC News.
The process has been done before to make glowing cockroaches and cats.
Researchers hope the technique will be able to lead to new ways to make medicines for incurable diseases according to The Guardian.
"The final goal is to develop animals that act as barrier reactives to produce beneficial molecules in their milk that can be cheaply extracted, especially in countries that cannot afford big pharma plants that make drugs, that usually cost $1bn to build, and be able to produce their own protein-based medication in animals," Moisyadi said, according to The Guardian.
The process is not expected to have a negative effect on the rabbit's life span according to researchers. Despite knowing this, animal activists are not pleased that they're changing the appearance of the rabbits even if it means some good may come out of it.
"To the people against, I say: think about, what are the benefits and what are the injuries?" Moisyadi said, according to The Guardian. "And if the benefits outweigh the injuries, let's go with the benefits."
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