Exploring Bioethics - NIH Office of Science Education - National ...

Alba’s CaseSince the early 1990s, scientists have beencreating bacteria, roundworms, mice, and otheranimals that glow green by inserting a jellyfishgene into their genomes. The modification helpsresearchers study cell processes, including themovement of certain proteins, because glowingproteins can be visualized whereas normalproteins cannot. In 2008, three U.S. scientistswere awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry fordeveloping the jellyfish green fluorescent protein(GFP). GFP has become “one of the mostAlbino rabbit with jellyfish genes.important tools used in contemporary bioscience,”according to the Nobel Prize Web site (http://nobelprize.org). This tool has allowed researchers“to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in thebrain or how cancer cells spread.”Photo: Courtesy Eduardo Kac, GFP Bunny, 2000,transgenic artwork. Alba, the fluorescent rabbitResearchers have also created more than 100 glowing albino rabbits. GFP is inserted into a rabbitzygote, and the rabbit grows with the jellyfish gene in each of its cells. The cells glow under blue light.Copyright © 2009 Education Development Center, Inc. Exploring Bioethics.Permission granted for classroom use.An artist found out about the GFP research and asked to have a rabbit created for him to use in his artshow. Alba, the rabbit shown here, is an albino rabbit that glows green under blue light. The researchgroup that created her did not release her to the artist, but newspaper reports indicate that she wasspecifically genetically engineered for him.The risks of genetic engineering include disturbing the appropriate expression of the animal’s genome.Researchers haven’t discovered any problems yet with GFP-altered animals. There is also the possibilitythat the gene could enter the wild population if the lab animals with it leave the lab and breed withwild ones.So far, there is no alternative to genetic modification for creating glowing cells.Was it ethically acceptable to make a glowing rabbit for an art show? Why or why not?Master 6.1