Seoul  - Scientists in South Korea have become the first to clone dogs with flourescent genes that cause them to glow in the dark.

   A fluorescent protein introduced in the genes cause the four cloned beagles to glow red under ultraviolet light, Lee Byeong Chun, leader of the research team at Seoul's National University, said Thursday.

   They are the first "transgenic dogs" in the world, and their creators hope the clones would eventually help scientists treat genetic defects, such as Parkinson's disease, in people, he said.

   The team plans to clone dogs with such defects so treatments could be tested on them. Dogs are a good choice for such research because they exhibit many of the same genetic illnesses as people, the researchers said.

   To create the four cloned beagles, Lee's team infected a dog's skin cells with a virus that inserted the flourescent gene into the genetic material of the cells. That material was then transferred to another dog's egg, creating an embryo that was then implanted into a surrogate mother.

   The four cloned beagles were born in December 2007, Lee said, and the results of the research was published in the April issue of the scientific journal Genesis.

   Lee was a member of a research team headed by Hwang Woo Suk, who was hailed as a cloning pioneer and national hero until an investigation found some of his research into cloning human embryonic stem cells was faked.

   Hwang's researchers, including Lee, also presented the first cloned dog in August 2005, and that work was verified as authentic.