Scientists in Hawaii and Istanbul have created rabbits that glow in the dark.

The two transgenic rabbits were born earlier this month at the University of Istanbul out of a litter of eight.

The Turkish researchers used an active transgenesis technique developed by medical researchers at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.

Under regular light the rabbits look white just like their siblings, but when dark the pair glows in a vivid shade of green.

During their embryonic phase all eight rabbits were injected with a fluorescent protein from jellyfish DNA. The embryos were then placed back into the mother rabbit, and when the litter was born two of the rabbits carried the "glowing gene".

The point of the experiment was to show that the genetic manipulation technique developed at the University of Hawaii works efficiently in rabbits.

While the pair was not the first glow-in-the-dark bunnies produced in a lab, they were the first using this technique.

The goal of the research is to introduce a new beneficial gene into female rabbits, then to collect the protein made in the milk produced by the female rabbits.

This could lead to efficient ways to produce medicines for humans, the researchers say.

Presented by Adam Justice