By: Frances Kueper
In 2009, glowing marmoset monkeys were successfully genetically engineered by Japanese researchers Erika Sasaki and Hideyuki Okano of the Keio University School of Medicine. Under UV lights, the monkeys’ feet, skin, hair roots, and even blood glowed a bright fluorescent green. What’s more, they were the first transgenic animals ever to be able to give rise to transgenic offspring.
What made this possible? To create the transgenic animals, scientists injected 91 marmoset embryos with a virus containing the GEP gene. GEP is a jellyfish gene that codes for green fluorescence. 8 healthy embryos were transplanted into surrogate mothers, and five were born as glowing offspring. Later, three second-generation glowing monkeys were born.
(Scientific American, E. Sasaki Et Al)
In 2008, Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Massachusetts; Martin Chalfie of Columbia University in New York; and Roger Tsien of the University of California, San Diego won the Nobel prize in chemistry for discovering the green fluorescence gene. Because it glows under blue and UV light, researchers can use the gene to trace tumor cells and toxins. Without biotechnology, however, none of this would be possible.
The ability to genetically engineer primates is a tremendous step toward providing accurate models for studying human diseases, specifically, incurable neurological diseases such as Parkinson's. Non-human primates such as transgenic marmoset monkeys, then, will be invaluable biological models.
Singer, E. (2020, April 2). Glowing monkeys inherit jellyfish genes. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.technologyreview.com/2009/05/27/124843/glowing-monkeys-inherit-jellyfish-genes/
Fox, M., Health, & Editor, S. (2009, May 28). Green-glowing monkeys have green-glowing babies. Reuters. Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-monkeys-green/green-glowing-monkeys-have-green-glowing-babies-idUSTRE54Q4A520090528
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