Question

Name the world’s first genetically modified non-human primate.

Answer 1

Hint: When the genome of an organism is altered using genetic engineering techniques, it results in genetically modified organism. Oregon researchers first genetically modified a non-human primate and were successful. It was named ANDi.

Complete answer:
ANDi was the first genetically modified monkey created by Oregon researchers. ANDi was a coffee brown color, playful rhesus monkey who was born on October 2nd 2000. It demonstrates that a foreign gene can be inserted into a primate chromosome successfully.
ANDi was born with a gene which is naturally found in jellyfish, called green fluorescent protein (GFP). It was taken from the jellyfish and genetically added to the ANDi’s DNA sequence.
During the process of developing ANDI, 224 eggs were injected and only 166 were able to fertilize and out of which 126 of these fertilized eggs will develop into an embryo. Out of which forty fertilized embryos were implanted in twenty surrogate rhesus mothers, each carrying two embryos. Five out of twenty surrogates became pregnant and from these five, three gave birth from which only one carried the transgene and it was named ANDi. Although green fluorescent protein was not functional in ANDi.
The researchers anticipated that gene insertions in the monkey will lead to primate models of human diseases, such as, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart diseases, obesity and cancer.

Note: Just like ANDi, a rhesus macaque, tetra was also created, but the technique used was embryo splitting. Rhesus monkeys share 95% of their same genes as humans. ANDi’s name was iDNA spelled backwards.