First Genetically Altered Primate Is Produced by Oregon Scientists

ANTONIO REGALADO / WALL STREET JOURNAL 12jan01

ANDi, the first rhesus monkey cloned by embryo splitting, was given his name by researchers who reversed the acronym of the technique they used to create him, a procedure known as inserted (i) DNA. Oregon Regional Primate Research Center photo via Associated Press

Researchers say they have produced the first genetically modified primate, a development that could lead to better ways to study drugs for treating human diseases such as Alzheimer's and AIDS.

The scientists fashioned a rhesus monkey that was born carrying a foreign gene, from a jellyfish, that when active produces a glowing green protein.

However, although the gene was present it didn't produce the glowing green protein. Anthony Chan, one of the study's authors, said the reason for that wasn't yet clear.

Ted Golos, at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said successfully turning on a gene would be scientists' next goal, and a necessary step before useful laboratory species could be produced. He said his own lab was working as quickly as possible toward that goal. "We have a lot of activity going on," he said.

Researchers at Oregon Health Sciences University, who reported the result Friday in the journal Science, named the monkey ANDi, for "inserted DNA" spelled backwards. Such gene-altered, or "transgenic," monkeys could become a valuable tool for studying aspects of biology where humans and monkeys are most similar, including the brain, immune system and reproductive system.

Since the 1970s, scientists have genetically modified a number of species, including pigs, rabbits and mice. Gene-altered mice are used heavily in cancer research and by drug makers, but researchers said primates could provide a more accurate model for studying some human diseases.

Dr. Golos said transgenic monkeys would be useful in his own research on the early stages of pregnancy. "You could modify a gene and do experimental manipulation to study pregnancy outcomes," he said. "These are the kinds of experiments that it is impossible to do in the human clinic."

But transgenic monkeys aren't likely to become a staple of research labs any time soon, since the process of making them is still fraught with difficulty.

The Oregon scientists used a virus to get the jellyfish gene into eggs taken from female monkeys, a procedure not unlike that used in some human gene-therapy tests to carry genes inside cells. The eggs were then fertilized with sperm.

But the researchers said that of the 224 eggs they modified, only 40 grew to embryos, resulting in just three live births. Of those animals, one was found to carry the jellyfish gene.