Boffins breed glow-in-the-dark pigs

Scientists in China have successfully created a florescent green pig and claim that the animal is passing its glow to some of its offspring.

Last year DNA from jellyfish was added to fertilized pig embryos resulting in a piglet that glowed green.

Now a similar pig has passed on its florescence to two of its 11 offspring.

"The smooth birth of these green pigs testifies to the mature development of our country's use of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology to produce transgenic pigs," said Liu Zhonghua, a professor at Northeast Agricultural University in Harbin.

"Continued development of this technology can be applied to the production of special pigs for organs for human transplant," Liu Zhonghua, a professor overseeing the breeding programme, said in a news release posted on the university's site.

The piglets glow green on their snout, trotters and tongue. The fact that the parent was able to pass on the artificial characteristic has given researchers hope that genetic cures for diseases could be viable.

2007 was the Year of the Pig under the Chinese calendar, becoming the Year of the Rat in February.