chimeras are produced routinely in mice when people want to breed mouse knockouts. t the only advance is that this could be done in primates, which frankly is minuscule.
the next obvious step that REALLY would have widespread implications would be to make inter-species chimeras, such as human-primate chimeras using human and primate ES cells, since we are related to them. but, that in itself would be VERY VERY controversial, that i don't really see it happening.
however i don't think there will be widespread genetic knockout studies done in primates in the near future because the cost of primate upkeep and adhering to institutional regulations regarding animal ethics and treatment will be prohibitively expensive.
On January 07 2012 02:09 NOobToss wrote: chimeras are produced routinely in mice when people want to breed mouse knockouts. they do this by injecting the only advance is that this could be done in primates, which frankly is minuscule.
the next obvious step that REALLY would have widespread implications would be to make inter-species chimeras, such as human-primate chimeras using human and primate ES cells, since we are related to them. but, that in itself would be VERY VERY controversial, that i don't really see it happening.
however i don't think there will be widespread genetic knockout studies done in primates in the near future because the cost of primate upkeep and adhering to institutional regulations regarding animal ethics and treatment will be prohibitively expensive.
On January 07 2012 02:09 NOobToss wrote: chimeras are produced routinely in mice when people want to breed mouse knockouts. the only advance is that this could be done in primates, which frankly is minuscule.
the next obvious step that REALLY would have widespread implications would be to make inter-species chimeras, such as human-primate chimeras using human and primate ES cells, since we are related to them. but, that in itself would be VERY VERY controversial, that i don't really see it happening.
however i don't think there will be widespread genetic knockout studies done in primates in the near future because the cost of primate upkeep and adhering to institutional regulations regarding animal ethics and treatment will be prohibitively expensive.
re: avian studies, chick-quail chimerics
gotcha. i'm frankly uncomfortable with primate-human chimeras tbh.
On January 07 2012 02:09 NOobToss wrote: chimeras are produced routinely in mice when people want to breed mouse knockouts. the only advance is that this could be done in primates, which frankly is minuscule.
the next obvious step that REALLY would have widespread implications would be to make inter-species chimeras, such as human-primate chimeras using human and primate ES cells, since we are related to them. but, that in itself would be VERY VERY controversial, that i don't really see it happening.
however i don't think there will be widespread genetic knockout studies done in primates in the near future because the cost of primate upkeep and adhering to institutional regulations regarding animal ethics and treatment will be prohibitively expensive.
re: avian studies, chick-quail chimerics
gotcha. i'm frankly uncomfortable with primate-human chimeras tbh.
Yep, I don't see much use for that right now tho anyway =)
I think if anything it'd be a good proof of concept experiment, but I can't think of any particular advantages that could be gained from a human-primate chimera that couldn't be gained from other simpler chimeras
On January 06 2012 19:21 HaruRH wrote: This discovery is very scary. One day, they might be able to start combining genomes of humans, resulting in superhumans...
It's common to use chimeric mice in science, linking your wanted modified genetic trait to, for example, a gene causing brown fur and inserting in a white-mouse embryo creates a white/black spotted chimeric mouse allowing to know that you've successfully introduced new genes.
This is cool cause it's done on monkeys, it's hard to manipulate mammalian and in particular primate embryos.
This seems to be on the same scale as mules and sheep/goat hybrids...until we see a chimera produced from significantly different genomes this doesn't really warrant headline news.
In a hybrid, Every single cell in the organism has the exact same genes from both parents (with the parents being of different species).
In a chimera, Some cells in the organism have one set of genes, and other cells (in other parts of the body) have other sets of genes.
So what the scientists did is they got 6 monkey embryos of the same species, and merged the Embryos. So when you get the adult, some parts of the body will have the genes from one embryo, and some from others.
This happens to some degree naturally. You have a few cells in you that have your mother's genes (picked up while you were in the womb, and were able to survive) Your mother has a few cells in her that have your genes, picked up while she was pregnant.
This is not Genetic engineering/combining genomes/ etc.
On January 07 2012 03:40 Krikkitone wrote: You have a few cells in you that have your mother's genes (picked up while you were in the womb, and were able to survive) Your mother has a few cells in her that have your genes, picked up while she was pregnant.
What the fuck? Am I the only one that is missing something here, or is this dude completely wrong? What do you mean we have foreign cells from our moms with distinct genomes, inside our bodies? Where are they? Are they functional contributors to anything? In which regions do they grow, or survive? How do they survive? Do they have a stem cell population that replenishes them? Why don't they die off? Are they located in a niche in which multipotent progenitors can be induced to exist at certain times?
I'm not really sure what the use of this is tbh, they say it has 'huge implications for science' and then don't elaborate. I bet i'm not going to benefit from this in my lifetime for sure...
Bringing back saber-toothed tigers! 'Cause that'd be sick!
I guess I've played way too many vidya games cause I came into this thread expecting some sort of three-headed monster monkeys who could breathe fire and shit
On January 06 2012 17:32 Chaosvuistje wrote: Amazing, imagine all the possibilities! If I had the power to unethically forge creatures together I would definitely get a bird with 4 heads just so they never stop chirping.
It's good advancement, but we'll have to ask the question of how ethical this is every step of the way.
How could this be unethical they are animals, unless they stared doing it to humans, which I highly doubt will happen.
you're an animal too. To claim you are not is a fallacy religion has pushed since the beginning of time.
So basically, if we could do that to a human, if all the embryo would be from different parents, the kid would have 6 fathers and 6 mothers, all biological.
This is not great like so many people have said. The utmost care must be used regarding chimeras, because if they ever escape into the real world and ecosystem it could cause serious problems. However as long as its limited to a lab it certainly is a great opportunity... but often if these labs screw up or let stuff out we never hear about it, and in the case of genetic manipulation there's real danger in letting that happen.
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/saro/flymonkeys/monkeyl.gif)
