Movies like Rise of the Planet of the Apes are bold hints at how dangerous genetic experimentation with animals and human DNA can be.
But fantasy is one thing, and real science is another, thought Chinese scientists and conducted their experiments by transplanting the human gene MCPH1 into rhesus monkeys.
This gene is thought to play a very important role in the development of the human brain, and those who have this gene working as it should do better on memory and response tests. And those who have mutations in this gene are born with microcephaly (reduced brain).
The experiment was carried out by researchers from the Kunming Institute of Zoology and the Academy of Chinese Sciences in collaboration with American scientists from the University of North Carolina. In total, 11 rhesus monkeys (8 of the first generation and 3 of the second generation) were involved in the experiment. At a very early stage in embryonic development, the human gene MCPH1 was introduced into their DNA.
As the monkeys grew older, their behavior and response on tests were compared to that of a control group of rhesus monkeys. It turned out that in transgenic monkeys short-term memory was better developed, and the reaction was faster.
When scientists studied the brains of experimental animals, it turned out that the tissues of their brain had an altered structure of neurons and the nervous system had the same delayed maturation as it happens in humans. The latter is called neoteny.
Neotenia in the human body is manifested as the preservation of juvenile (childhood) traits in the adult body. And this is one of the key differences between humans and primates - humans take much longer to form a brain network during development, which is why humans have a longer period of childhood.
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Curiously, the brains of the experimental monkeys did not increase in size in relation to the brains of the monkeys in the control group. Also, out of 11 monkeys during the experiment, only 5 survived. From what the rest died is not specified.
Still from the movie * Rise of the Planet of the Apes * (2011)
A report on the monkey experiment was published last months in the Beijing scientific journal National Science Review. It was received controversially by other scholars, and debates about scientific ethics began again.
Larry Baum of the University of Hong Kong is convinced that in this case the science fiction component is too exaggerated.
Baum also added that the study proved the old theory that the slow maturation of brain cells was an important factor in increasing human intelligence during evolution.
