Thursday, May 28, 2009

Transgenic primates as research tools: now a reality

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Article

Nature 459, 523-527 (28 May 2009) | doi:10.1038/nature08090; Received 27 September 2008; Accepted 30 April 2009

Generation of transgenic non-human primates with germline transmission

Erika Sasaki1, Hiroshi Suemizu1, Akiko Shimada1, Kisaburo Hanazawa2, Ryo Oiwa1, Michiko Kamioka1, Ikuo Tomioka1,3, Yusuke Sotomaru5, Reiko Hirakawa1,3, Tomoo Eto1, Seiji Shiozawa1,4, Takuji Maeda1,4, Mamoru Ito1, Ryoji Ito1, Chika Kito1, Chie Yagihashi1, Kenji Kawai1, Hiroyuki Miyoshi6, Yoshikuni Tanioka1, Norikazu Tamaoki1, Sonoko Habu7, Hideyuki Okano4 & Tatsuji Nomura1

  1. Central Institute for Experimental Animals, 1430 Nogawa, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 216-0001, Japan
  2. Department of Urology, Juntendo University Nerima Hospital 3-1-10 Takanodai, Nerima-ku, Tokyo 177-8521, Japan
  3. Center for Integrated Medical Research,
  4. Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan
  5. Natural Science Centre for Basic Research and Development, Hiroshima University 1-2-3, Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan
  6. Subteam for Manipulation of Cell Fate, RIKEN BioResource Centre, 3-1-1 Koyadai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan
  7. Department of Immunology, Tokai University School of Medicine, Bohseidai, Isehara, Kanagawa 259-1193, Japan

Correspondence to: Erika Sasaki1Hideyuki Okano4 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to E.S. (Email: esasaki@ciea.or.jp) or H.O. (Email: hidokano@sc.itc.keio.ac.jp).

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is increasingly attractive for use as a non-human primate animal model in biomedical research. It has a relatively high reproduction rate for a primate, making it potentially suitable for transgenic modification. Although several attempts have been made to produce non-human transgenic primates, transgene expression in the somatic tissues of live infants has not been demonstrated by objective analyses such as polymerase chain reaction with reverse transcription or western blots. Here we show that the injection of a self-inactivating lentiviral vector in sucrose solution into marmoset embryos results in transgenic common marmosets that expressed the transgene in several organs. Notably, we achieved germline transmission of the transgene, and the transgenic offspring developed normally. The successful creation of transgenic marmosets provides a new animal model for human disease that has the great advantage of a close genetic relationship with humans. This model will be valuable to many fields of biomedical research.