Thursday January 13 3:39 PM ET Scientists 'Use Nature' to Clone Monkey By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists said on Thursday they had cloned a monkey -- the first non-human primate to be cloned -- in an experiment they hope will result in squads of genetically identical lab animals perfect for use in testing.

``Tetra,'' a bright-eyed rhesus macaque, was not made by the same method that made the world agog over Dolly the sheep.

While Dolly was cloned using nuclear transfer -- taking the nucleus out of an adult cell and using it to reprogram an unfertilized egg -- Tetra was made by splitting a very early embryo into four pieces.

``The birth of Tetra, a healthy female cloned from a quarter of an embryo, proves that this approach can result in live offspring,'' the researchers at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center in Beaverton wrote in the journal Science.

The method is commonly used in animals such as cattle but had never before been used to create a monkey.

Gerald Schatten, who led the research, said the technique copied what nature does. ``This is just artificial twinning,'' he said in a telephone interview.

Creating Laboratory Animals

He said the purpose was to create laboratory animals.

``In order to move discoveries from the laboratory bench to a patient's bedside, we need to have genetically identical animals that would provide the information needed before these new therapies are tested on people,'' he said.

``Our contribution is to help provide the genetically identical models in which lifesaving cures can be perfected.''

The method has been used to create clones of human embryos at least once. In 1993 Dr. Jerry Hall said he had cloned human embryos by splitting them, although he said he had destroyed them.

Very early on in development, an embryo can be split once or even twice and each piece will grow into a complete and separate embryo.

The method Schatten's team used is not very efficient yet. The researchers made 368 embryos by splitting 107 embryos into two or four pieces. They got four pregnancies in 13 tries. Only one survived -- Tetra, who came from one-fourth of an embryo.

They have four other pregnant monkeys which, if their babies make it, are due to start delivering in May.

Schatten said the embryo splitting method is better for many laboratory purposes than the cloning of an adult animal.

Scientists have learned that animals like Dolly cloned by nuclear transfer are not 100 percent clones, as they have genetic material both from the adult cell they were taken from, and from the egg that is hollowed out to make the clone.

Genetic Duplicates

``Now for the first time it is possible to have genetically identical monkeys,'' Schatten said.

One thing they can be used to test is ``nature versus nurture.'' ``We could learn what the environmental effect is, separate from genetics,'' Schatten said.

``There are theories that maternal environment can result in an IQ drop of around 10 points. There are theories that influences in pregnancy have consequences very late in life.''

For example, the children and even grandchildren of malnourished women may be prone to heart disease and diabetes.

``By taking say a set of triplets and putting them into three different moms ... you could have one mom listen to Mozart, another heavy metal and maybe NPR (U.S. National Public Radio) for a third. And maybe you could have the very same baby born in the very same mom but in a sequential pregnancy. These are answers that we need today.''

Schatten also intends to split the monkey embryos, letting one grow into a baby and keeping the other one frozen.

The frozen embryo could later be harvested for stem cells, the so-called master cells that can develop into any kind of cell in the body at all and which scientists hope one day to use as tissue transplants to treat diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's.

Stem cells might also be used to grow entire organs for transplant. ``The possibility of stem cell therapy could completely change the lives of children,'' Schatten said. ``No more diabetes, no more Alzheimer's, no more heart disease -- you could repair all these degenerative diseases.''

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), January 13, 2000

Answers

Dang. At first I thought you said, "Scientists learn how to clone money".

That's absolutely abhorrent. It's hard to imagine that we would clone rhesus monkeys (just one chromosome off of the human template, BTW) just for our own psychological experiments and extensive medical research. That's disgusting.

-- Etta James (ej@umkc.edu), January 13, 2000.

I agree Etta. Very disturbing indeed.=o|

-- Cin (Cinlooo@aol.com), January 13, 2000.

Very provocative material, said very matter-of-factly. It raises many questions, to say the least.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), January 13, 2000.

Yeah I thought a while pack there was going to be some moritorium (sp) on this sort of thing.

`In order to move discoveries from the laboratory bench to a patient's bedside, we need to have genetically identical animals that would provide the information needed before these new therapies are tested on people,'' he said.

``Our contribution is to help provide the genetically identical models in which lifesaving cures can be perfected.''

Sounds to me like its just a matter of time.

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), January 13, 2000.

Just what we need, more politicians!

Bwana Kook

-- Y2Kook (Y2Kook@usa.net), January 13, 2000.

can you say Planet of the Apes...

-- Marli (can'tget@it.duh), January 13, 2000.

Marli,

"Planet of the Apes".

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.com), January 13, 2000.

Multi-billion-kizaloons of your tax dollar spent, on the Scientists supposedly finding a cure for the agonizing Cancer and other human agony diseases. They have NOT succeded (or have not told us so). I suggest we go Up In Arms to protest the funding of this project, until they can find (acknowledge) a cure to the present.

-- Scientists, What! (Arethey@goodfor.com), January 13, 2000.

It never ceases to amaze me that once somebody gets a phd they seem to lose all connection with common morality. Is this a common brain defect or what? The higher the IQ the lower the common sense? Gatlings gun to end all wars, that didn't work out exactly as planned did it. So we built an atomic bomb to take it's place. We bred superviruses and created hyneous poison gasses to slaughter our fellow humans. Still got those pesky wars though. Watching the idiot box last month and they were drooling over new supersmall spy cameras and microphones, soon won't be even a vestige of privacy left on the planet. What exactly are these scientist designing this shit for the government thinking? Do any of you honestly think they won't clone superwarriors or some such crap in one of their little black ops? Spare bodies for the wealthy elite? Genetically modified humans? The futures so bright I gotta wear shades.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), January 13, 2000.

Science worshippers.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), January 14, 2000.

"In 1993 Dr. Jerry Hall said he had cloned human embryos by splitting them, although he said he had destroyed them..."

He couldn't let it rest I don't think he destroyed them.

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.net), January 14, 2000.