It is already a reality: the first non-human primate fruit of two genetically different embryos of the same species of monkey. This is the achievement of a chimera that had previously been carried out in rats and mice.
The team of Chinese researchers has reported on this advance in the latest issue of Cell. For the first time, it has been achieved a chimeric ape containing a high proportion of cells derived from a monkey stem cell line
As Zhen Liu, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and lead author of the article, points out, this fact has been pursued for a long time in this field. Thus, this research not only clarifies the understanding of the naive pluripotency in other primates, including humans, but also has relevant practical implications for the genetic engineering and species conservation.
“In particular, this work could help us generate more accurate monkey models for studying neurological diseases, as well as for other biomedical studies,” Liu says.
The monkeys used in the study were ‘cynomolgus’ monkeys, also known as crab-eating or long-tailed macaquesa common primate in biomedical research.