GENETICALLY-MODIFIED MONKEYS
The soles of the feet of these newborn transgenic marmoset monkeys glow a vivid green under ultraviolet light (inset). APTHE DAILY TELEGRAPH
LONDON — Japanese scientists have genetically modified marmoset monkeys with a fluorescent protein that makes them glow a vivid green under ultra violet light.
Unlike previously developed "transgenic animals", the monkeys are able to pass on this unique ability to their offspring, suggesting it is deeply embedded in its DNA.
The breakthrough, which also means the genetic modification need be done only once, could lead to new and more sophisticated research into incurable, degenerative neurological diseases such as Parkinson's.
Scientists reported the first transgenic monkeys last year when they inserted a gene from Huntington's Disease. But it did not fully integrate into the monkey's own DNA and was not passed down to their offspring.
This time, Dr Erika Sasaki of the Central Institute for Experimental Animals in Kawasaki and colleagues used a virus to introduce the gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the DNA of the common marmoset. Five transgenic marmoset monkeys were made from eggs that had been modified with GFP.
The findings, published in British Journal Nature, show that the gene integrated into the monkeys' DNA and was successfully passed down to their offspring, which were all healthy and contained the new gene.
Transgenic mice have contributed immensely to biomedical research, but they are too dissimilar from humans for the results to be meaningful.
Dr Sasaki said: "The successful creation of transgenic marmosets provides a new animal model for human disease that has the great advantage of a close genetic relationship with humans. This model will be valuable to many fields of biomedical research."
From TODAYOnline.com; see the source article here.
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