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Bookshelf - Possession: Batman's Treaty and the Matter of Historyrom the Central Institute of Experimental Animals and Professor Hideyuki Okano of the Keio University School of Medicine. The team used viral DNA to integrate a new gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), causing them to glow green under UV light. The breakthrough came when a number of the marmoset offspring inherited the GFP gene, creating the world’s first second-generation transgenic primates. Transgenic animals are nothing new. The first transgenic mice were created in the 1980s with human genes, and have helped scientists create specialised populations of animals to help in disease research. The creation of transgenic primates capable of passing on their altered genes to their young could provide a more reliable way to test human disease treatments. Dr Mark Hill from the Cell Biology Laboratory at the UNSW said the discovery had many potential benefits. “This brings us one step closer to a useful primate model for many human diseases, not only their mechanisms but also in potential therapeutics,” he said. The full paper is published in the latest issue of Nature. AAP