Chinese scientists defend the implantation of a human gene in the brain of monkeys

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The research, undertaken by several universities and led by the Kunming Zoological Institute in southwestern China, aimed to shed light on the evolutionary process leading to human intelligence.

"Brain size and cognitive skills are the most profoundly altered traits in humans during evolution, and yet the genetic mechanisms underlying these man-made changes remain blurred, "said a report published March 27 in the Chinese journal National Science Review.

The research paper stated that it was the first time that such a study was taking place.

One of the principal investigators, Su Bing, of the Kunming Zoology Institute of Science of Academy in China, said that the experiment had been reviewed by the Ethics Committee of the She had attended not only Chinese and international scientific best practices, but also international standards on animal rights.

"In the long term, this basic research will also provide valuable information for the analysis of the etiology and treatment of human brain diseases (such as autism) caused by abnormal brain development", he said in an email to CNN.

A rhesus macaque baby monkey looks from his mother's arms in Hong Kong in 2011.

But scientists who have long debated the ethics of transgenic experiments on apes and monkeys said the experiment was leading researchers on a "risky path".

This is the second gene-related controversy that strikes Chinese researchers in less than six months. In November, a Chinese scientist claimed that he had created the first babies in the world to be modified by a gene, sparking an international outcry.
He said he used a tool called CRISPR-cas9 to eliminate the genes that made children susceptible to HIV. Chinese authorities had a bleak view of the experience, calling it "illegal" and ordering an investigation.

In the study conducted by Su in 2019, 11 gene copies of the human MCPH1 gene were implanted in 11 rhesus monkeys, an important marker of "development and evolution of the brain".

The analysis of the behavior and physiology of the monkeys showed that they were developing in a more humane way, with better short-term memory and a faster reaction time compared to a control group.

Chinese authorities say the world's first genetically modified babies are illegal

Their brains also took longer to develop, in the same way as humans.

The research has been criticized by a number of Western scientists. University of Colorado geneticist James Sikela said it was "a very risky road to take."

Sikela and his colleagues said in an article published in 2010 that transgenic experiments on nonhuman primates raised complex ethical problems and that improved primates were more likely to be exploited and harmed.

"This damage makes the conduct of this research ethically unacceptable in great apes, justifying regulatory barriers between these species and all other non-human primates for transgenic research," the 2010 document said. could be valid in certain situations.

In the MIT Technology Review, bioethicist from the University of Colorado, Jacqueline Glover, compared the experiment to the dystopian sci-fi film "The Planet of the Apes", in which super-intelligent primates overthrow humans .

"To humanize them is to cause harm, where would they live and what would they be doing? Do not create a being who can not have a meaningful life in any context," Glover said.

But the Chinese scientist Su has accused Western critics, and Sikela in particular, of hypocrisy and carelessness, claiming that the project was unfairly judged by the "stereotypes" of Chinese research.

"Exploring the genetic mechanism of the evolution of the human brain is a major issue in the natural sciences and we will continue our exploration," he said.

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