A baby rhesus monkey has become the latest animal celebrity, following in the footsteps of Dolly the cloned sheep as yet another first in the area of genetic manipulation. Named ANDi, the monkey is the first primate to carry foreign genetic material, in this case DNA from a jellyfish.
The animal was created at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Centre at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. It joins another Oregon celebrity, Tetra, the first monkey to be cloned and produced a year ago using embryo splitting.
The research is published in one of the world's top peer-reviewed journals, Science, so it would have been scrutinised for its scientific value. It does seem, however, that the scientists were out to win yet another first rather than to advance the march of scientific understanding.
The research team were quick to suggest that the monkey would open up new possibilities in developing treatments for diabetes, breast cancer, Parkinson's, HIV and a host of other disorders. ANDi, however, whose name derives from a backwards spelling of "inserted DNA", will be little more than a research oddity. It will not serve as a tool for studies into these diseases.
The jellyfish gene is a long established genetic marker, used because when it is switched on, it produces a protein that fluoresces or glows under UV light. It was inserted into a rhesus egg using a carrier, an inactive virus, that helped integrate the gene into ANDi's DNA after test-tube fertilisation.
It is an imprecise and uncontrolled insertion, however, as evidenced by the team's research results. Forty embryos were produced, resulting in five pregnancies and three live births. Only ANDi, who was born on October 2nd, showed signs of having taken up the jellyfish gene.
This is much different from the very precise gene manipulation that is a hallmark of much modern DNA work. Scientists have created a number of highly important and valuable animal models by either knocking out or inserting specific genes in specific locations.
The key to the approach is knowing exactly where the gene has been inserted, according to a specialist in genetics who asked not to be named.
Viral insertion is a random approach, either hitting any convenient location or a number of specific sites, depending on the virus used. This increases the risk that the insertion could occur into a key developmental gene, essential for proper development in utero or during later growth.
"I can't imagine it involves any new technology," he said. "The hoopla seems to be that it is a primate."
Pursuing such firsts, however, can backfire on the researchers. The public are understandably uneasy about such experimentation and sometimes can't see the point. Placing a jellyfish gene into a monkey is a good example of this.
The genetically engineered baby rhesus monkey, ANDi