Researchers at the Central Institute for Experimental Animals in Kawasaki (Japan) have created a transgenic line of monkeys for the first time. The scientists, led by Erika Sasaki, have succeeded in ensuring that the inserted gene is fully integrated into the primate DNA and passed on to the offspring. The results are published today in the journal Nature .
Sasaki and his team used viral DNA as a vehicle to introduce green fluorescence (GFP) genes into 91 common marmoset ( Callithrix jacchus ) embryos, from which five babies were born. The gene was not only fully integrated into the DNA of these marmosets, it was also successfully passed on to all of their offspring.
According to the authors, the research opens "a new era in the use of primates as models of human disease. "
