"The First Genetically Modified Monkey" - Article

Widely touted as the world's first cloned monkey (it was no such thing), ANDi was born on October 2,
but only revealed to the world in Science on January 12. The name is just an abbreviation of 'inserted
DNA', spelt backwards, and this tells us what is important about ANDi: the rhesus monkey contains an
extra bit of DNA for a gene that is a convenient marker. The DNA forms a marker gene called GFP,
because it expresses a green fluorescent protein. This makes it easy to detect when it is inserted effectively
into an embryo or ovum. This gene was reverse-transcribed and copied into a double strand of DNA, which
entered the mother's chromosomes.
While the story was officially broken on January 12, it was out in the news media after an embargo was
broken, several days early. The normal procedure is that journalists are allowed early access to stories, on
the understanding that they can be trusted to observe the embargo, and not publish before a specified time.
This convention applies widely to peer-reviewed journals, where nothing is deemed to be 'published' until
it appears in a reputable journal which has a peer review process to ensure that outrageous stories are not
peddled. It is also appropriate for scientists to reveal their findings at a colloquium, symposium, or a
professional conference, because under these circumstances, the report is immediately subject to comment
and discussion - but in most cases, the presenter has already circulated the paper to a few knowledgeable
colleagues for comment.
As a rule, the major journals will not touch any report that has appeared in the public media first, and they
do not take kindly to their embargoes being broken. While the staff at Science were remarkably reticent on
the details, it appears that a CBS radio journalist broke the story. While not registered to receive
embargoed stories, he had somehow obtained it from another party, and had not realized that it was
embargoed.
Nobody who is qualified to report science news could possibly have made such an elementary error,
because it is one of the givens of science - and most definitely one of the givens of Science. Still, the story
got out, and we were subjected to a barrage of gonzo reports about nerdy scientists cloning monkeys that
would glow in the dark.
Point 1: the monkey was not cloned - it simply had a gene added. The gene needed to be easily visible,
since this was testing a process only, and it helps to see where the added gene is expressed; it was a
marker, not a goal needed to be obtained as an end in itself. Finally, the monkey does not glow in the dark:
it needs to be illuminated in order to set off the fluorescence effect.
The main point, that this sort of work has the potential to lead to new treatments for a host of disabling
human conditions, from diabetes and breast cancer to Parkinson's and HIV, was completely lost. Curiously,
the spokesman for the researchers, Gerald Schatten of the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center at the
Oregon Health Sciences University, is the same person who reported, just a year earlier, on Tetra, the first
monkey successfully cloned by embryo splitting - but this was missed when ANDi's case was being
discussed.
The gene was added by using by a non-infectious or 'pseudotyped' viral carrier system called a vector, a
method often used in human gene-therapy investigations. The virus carried the additional gene into the egg. Once inside, the gene was reverse-transcribed and copied into a double strand of DNA, which entered the mother's chromosomes.
The ova were then artificially inseminated and implanted.
According to Schatten, "ANDi is robust and plays normally with his two roommates," though ANDi is
remarkably lucky. Some 224 eggs were modified and then fertilized to produce 40 embryos and five
pregnancies, which resulted in three live births, all male. Of the healthy infants, only ANDi demonstrated
successful transgene integration.
The success was determined by amplifying and analyzing bits of DNA and RNA, carefully extracted from
the inside of his cheek, his hair, and cells in his urine, as well as studies of his placenta and birth cord. The
researchers also examined tissue from the stillborn monkeys, to identify the GFP gene product through
fluorescence tests, and found that both of them carried the gene.
Giving the lie even further to the "monkeys that glow in the dark" line, ANDi himself does not exhibit
fluorescence, possibly because the inserted protein is expressed in such small quantities, or because
expression won't begin until he is older. Still, for the first time, scientists have managed to introduce new
genes into primates, using a technique previously only used in cattle. The method will need some
improvement, though, before it is applied to humans.