Transgenic Green-Glow Monkeys Successfully Bred in Japan

A research team from Shiga University of Medical Science and the Central Institute for Experimental Animals in Japan has bred a long-tailed macaque whose body emits green light when exposed to ultraviolet radiation.

The researchers inserted a gene encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the eggs of long-tailed macaques, then allowed them to be fertilized, and the baby monkeys eventually born carried this gene encoding green fluorescent protein. The researchers explained that under normal conditions these transgenic monkeys look no different from ordinary long-tailed macaques, but when exposed to ultraviolet radiation, these transgenic monkeys become "green-glowing monkeys" whose entire bodies emit green light. The researchers hope to use these transgenic monkeys to study human diseases.