Green-glowing monkeys have green-glowing babies

[David Zephyr]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Japanese researchers have genetically engineered monkeys whose hair roots, skin and blood glow green under a special light, and who have passed on their traits to their offspring, the first time this has been achieved in a primate.

They spliced a jellyfish gene into common marmosets, and said on Wednesday they hope to use their colony of glowing animals to study human Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.

Erika Sasaki and Hideyuki Okano of the Keio University School of Medicine in Japan used a virus to carry the gene for green fluorescent protein into monkey embryos, which were implanted into a female monkey, and four out of five were born with the gene throughout their bodies.

One fathered a healthy baby that also carried the new genes, they reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. "The birth of this transgenic marmoset baby is undoubtedly a milestone," stem cell expert Dr. Gerald Schatten, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Shoukhrat Mitalipov, of Oregon Health and Sciences University, wrote in a commentary in Nature.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090527/sc_nm/us_monkeys_green

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A page right out of Michael Crichton's "Next".

[Taverner]

1. Good

Now if we can just pass on the "don't-get-cancer" gene onto everyone...life would be great

[Duer 157099]

2. What's that book about?

Seems like, if anything, his book might be based on current scientific research, not the other way around? But since I don't know what this particular book is about, I really don't know.

A recent episode of The Big Bang Theory had Sheldon making fish with this gene, to use as nightlights. I thought that was a good application, lol.

But seriously, they already use primates for this type of research (PD, ALS etc) - all they have done is implemented an easier way to track and visualize where certain genes are being expressed, which will speed up the research, not fundamentally change the research itself. It's like the development of the PCR technique (also resulted in Nobel Prize) - tremendously speeds up research.

[Oregone]

3. I so want one.

Aint science grand? Curing all the mundane animals of being ordinary

[jmondine]

4. Great. Now, how am I supposed to know when I've come down from my acid trip?

[Botany]

5. Big deal ..... here in Ohio we have an orange congressman

[BlueJessamine]

6. Good one!!!!

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[xchrom]

7. did he pass on his gene?

:scared:

[JVS]

8. Oompah Loompah genes

[Frank Booth]

9. Hopefully the FDA's in the process of approving this technology for use with

our human youngsters.

It would be downright cool to have a glow in the dark kid. Plus, he'd be easier to keep track of.