“Marathon mice,” genetically engineered by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers, can run twice as far as their unaltered buddies. Previously, the only known way to increase endurance was through training.
With no previous running experience, most mice can run about 900 meters before exhaustion. But the genetically altered mice can run 1800 meters (more than a mile) before running out of steam, and keep it up for two and a half hours — an hour longer than unaltered mice can run. “Records are broken on a fraction of a percent,” said Ron Evans, the head researcher in the mouse experiment and a professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory at The Salk Institute. “A few percentage points is like a minute or two in a race. This was a big change: 100 percent.” To perform the genetic enhancement on the mice, researchers injected a human version of a protein called PPAR-delta attached to a short DNA sequence. The injection permanently incorporated enhanced PPAR-delta production into the mice’ genomes. The change is transgenic, meaning the mice will pass down the trait to future generations.
Is this a Viagra experiment in disguise? -KF
Source: Wired
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