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IF IT’S monkeys today, will it be humans tomorrow? That was the question
posed after the birth of ANDi, the genetically engineered rhesus monkey.

The answer, if we have to rely on the methods used to create ANDi, is that it
won’t be any time soon. There are just too many uncertainties.

For starters, using retroviruses to add genes is unpredictable. ANDi was
given the gene for a green fluorescent protein, but he doesn’t glow because the
gene isn’t working. It may switch on when ANDi is older, but who wants to stitch
genes into humans if they don’t work? Also, the rates of making viable embryos
and producing live offspring are too low
(see “Too close for comfort”).
The researchers started with
224 eggs. Out of five births, two monkeys were stillborn and two others didn’t
carry the gene.

It’s even questionable whether this procedure has value for making transgenic
monkeys. We don’t know yet if ANDi carries the added gene in his sperm, and even
if he does, his offspring may not express it. This is a well-known problem with
using retroviruses for shuttling genes. And given monkeys’ close links with
humans, would it be ethical to use such an inefficient system to engineer new
varieties?

So, what does this research add up to? ANDi’s creators say he is “proof of
principle”. But he won’t even be that if he doesn’t glow.

There’s no doubt that the research is symbolic. We can now give an extra gene
to a primate. But claims that it is anything more than that are monkeyshine.