Glowing monkeys

[rov1200]

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/05/glow ing-monkeys-make-more-glowing-monkeys-the-old- fashioned-way/

Scientists are able to transfer a gene from a glow worm to an animal to make it glow. In future this could have enormous benefits when studying diseases.

Would it be possible to put this gene into a virus such as swine flu? Whenever a person coughed if he had swine flu it would be visible to others.

[wildwood]

I am a bit cynical about the glowing monkeys. I believe the glow in the worms is caused by a bacteria.

[rov1200]

Even if this experiment is a fake the transfer of this glow gene has been put into other species so that is genuine. If the offspring of these animals also inherit the glow gene I wondered whether this would happen with a virus. These are also made up of genetic material and its well known they can mutate to form a new virus.

A cough that glows seems science fiction but progress has been so rapid in this field.

[wildwood]

It would be great but the gene would have to be inserted at the right position to be active. I doubt if this is possible with the DNA of a virus.
A virus is basically just a bag of incomplete DNA with a screw organ. It needs the DNA of the host to multiply. If this were possible the host (human) would glow from the infected cells. A nice thought though.