Human intelligence is one of the most important advances in evolution. It is the result of a long-distance race that began millions of years ago, leading to ever-larger brains and new abilities. Meanwhile, our primate cousins were left behind.
Now, a team of scientists from South China has announced that they have tried to bridge the evolutionary gap, creating several transgenic macaque monkeys with additional copies of a human gene that is supposed to play a key role in shaping human intelligence.
In an attempt to learn more about the way the human brain develops, scientists have added the MC HP 1 gene , which is involved in regulating fetal brain growth.
What happened in the experiment
This implant seems to have made the monkeys smarter. The brains of rhesus monkeys with implanted human genes took longer to develop and also showed better memory skills and faster reaction times , compared to their unmodified peers. Although transgenic organisms are nothing new, it is the first time that researchers have used transgenic monkeys to investigate the genetic origins of the human brain. It is, scientists say, an experiment with relevant ethical implications.
The team exposed the monkey embryos to a virus that carried human microcephalin. This generated 11 transgenic rhesus monkeys that carried the human gene. However, only five of them survived the process.
“Our findings demonstrated that transgenic non-human primates (excluding ape species) have the potential to provide important, and potentially unique, information on basic questions of what really makes humans so extraordinary, as well as disorders and phenotypes. clinically relevant, “wrote the researchers in the study reported in the National Science Review.
Is it ethical?
But not everyone agrees. In fact, a 2010 article expressly condemns the entire concept of editing animals with human brain genes, calling such studies “ethically unacceptable” due to the elevated risk of harm to animals.
As if that weren’t enough, one of the researchers on this latest study, computer scientist Martin Styner from the University of North Carolina, pointed out that there were aspects of the study that would not be allowed in a country with stricter regulations , such as the US. In fact, the investigation was unable to find a publisher in the West.
Some believe that experiments like these could lead to the creation of monkeys like the ones featured in the science fiction movie “Planet of the Apes .” What kind of status would these monkeys have if they were altered in a way that allowed them to think like a human being? It is one of the ethical reasons why most researchers are not willing to participate in such a study.
Reference: Lei Shi et al. Transgenic rhesus monkeys carrying the human MCPH1 gene copies show human-like neoteny of brain development, National Science Review (2019). DOI: 10.1093 / nsr / nwz043
