Glowing monkeys ‘to aid research’
Though primates modified to generate a glowing protein have been created before, these are the first to keep the change in their bloodlines.
Future genetic modifications to primates could aid efforts to cure such diseases as Parkinson’s.
The work raises a number of ethical questions about deliberately exposing a bloodline of animals to such diseases.
Now, Erika Sasaki of the Central Institute for Experimental Animals in Japan, and her colleagues, have introduced a gene into marmoset embryos that allows them to build green fluorescent protein (GFP) in their tissues.
The protein is so-called because it glows green in a process known as fluorescence.
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