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A transgenic line of monkeys carrying a gene encoding green fluorescent protein fully integrated into their DNA has been created for the first time. The research, published in Nature this week, marks the first such feat in non-human primates and paves the way for developing new models of human diseases.

WWW.NATURE.COM/NATURE This press release is copyright Nature. VOL.459 NO.7246 DATED 28 MAY 2009 Warning: This document, and the Nature papers to which it refers, may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information contained in this document or in advanced copies of Nature’s content may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934. 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PLEASE CITE NATURE AND OUR WEBSITE www.nature.com/nature AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO http://www.nature.com/nature Genetics: Transgenic monkeys with a healthy glow (pp 523-527; N&V *Press Briefing*) A transgenic line of monkeys carrying a gene encoding green fluorescent protein fully integrated into their DNA has been created for the first time. The research, published in Nature this week, marks the first such feat in non-human primates and paves the way for developing new models of human diseases. Scientists reported the first transgenic monkeys last year — a model of Huntington’s disease — but in these animals, the gene did not fully integrate into the monkey’s own DNA and was not passed down to their offspring. In this report, Erika Sasaki and colleagues used viral DNA as a delivery vehicle to introduce the gene for GFP into the DNA of the common marmoset Callithrix jacchus. They show that the gene integrated into the monkey’s DNA and was successfully passed down to their offspring, which were healthy and all expressed the new gene. Transgenic mice have contributed immensely to biomedical research, but for many diseases they are too dissimilar from humans for the results to be meaningful. Non-human primates hold great promise for the study of several human diseases, particularly neurological disorders, for which there are currently no appropriate experimental models. This study marks an important milestone on the road to developing the means to investigate these diseases. In an accompanying news story, Nature News reporter David Cyranoski explains why other transgenic monkeys have failed to reproduce so far, and describes the 5-year Japanese project to develop alternative animal models of which Sasaki’s research is a part. Also in this issue, an editorial calls for researchers working on transgenic primates to go much further than they have so far in articulating the ethical aspects both of their research and its potential applications. Engagement in public discussion is essential to avoid inappropriate regulation. CONTACT Erika Sasaki (Central Institute for Experimental Animals, Kawasaki, Japan) Tel: +81 44 7544 480; E-mail: esasaki@ciea.or.jp Hideyuki Okano (Keio University School of Medicine, Japan) Co-author Tel: +81 3 5363 3746; E-mail: hidokano@sc.itc.keio.ac.jp Gerald Schatten (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA, USA) N&V author Tel: +1 412 641 2400; E-mail: gps15@pitt.edu Shoukhrat Mitalipov (Oregon National Primate Research Center, Beaverton, OR, USA) N&V author Tel: +1 503 614 3709; Email: mitalipo@ohsu.edu PRESS CONTACTS… From North America and Canada Neda Afsarmanesh, Nature New York Tel: +1 212 726 9231; E-mail: n.afsarmanesh@natureny.com Katie McGoldrick, Nature Washington Tel: +1 202 737 2355; E-mail: k.mcgoldrick@naturedc.com From Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan Mika Nakano, Nature Tokyo Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: m.nakano@natureasia.com From the UK/Europe/other countries not listed above Jen Middleton, Nature London Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail j.middleton@nature.com About Nature Publishing Group (NPG): Nature Publishing Group is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, dedicated to serving the academic and professional scientific and medical communities. NPG’s flagship title, Nature, was first published in 1869. Other publications include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature Clinical Practice and a range of prestigious academic journals including society-owned publications. NPG also provides news content through Nature News. Scientific career information and free job postings are offered on Naturejobs. NPG is a global company with principal offices in London, New York and Tokyo and offices in Basingstoke, Boston, Buenos Aires, Delhi, Hong Kong, Madrid, Melbourne, Munich, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul and Washington DC. For more information, please go to www.nature.com.

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