[Jake Sapiens] I seemed to have missed this piece of news.  Interestingly, however, I think an unintended consequence of this development comes out as a bonus incentive for researching cloning/genetic engineering of Space Monkeys TM http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs/index.php?board=54;action=display;threadid=27853 since the research path to human cloning may be through more intensive research on monkey cloning.  Yes, this appears as a technical setback, but I have little doubt that we shall overcome.  

Just off the top of my head . . .

I will have to read up on the news to get a better idea of the nature of the technical problem.  If the problem can be solved simply with a sperm and an egg, then I'm not sure this is as big a setback, though it can make the process technically a little more complicated, but I imagine still theoretically possible with the technology we have - just a matter of getting half of the desired genome in enough sperm, and the other half in an egg or eggs, and then perform good "old-fashioned" in vitro fertilization.

Well, that may not be the solution, but if it isn't it still might be something reasonable to try in the process of finding the real solution.  Amazing how little time it takes to get behind on a field as changing as this.  I have some catch-up reading to do.  Perhaps it may simply be an issue of loading up the egg cytoplasm with the right mRNA? Or something else?

Love,

-Jake

the following is a repost of Rhino's excellent summary and links on this piece of scientific news.  Thanks Rhino! :-)

In a message dated 4/12/2003 3:20:10 PM Central Daylight Time, rhinoceros@freemail.gr writes:

[rhinoceros]
Scientific American also reported on the current impossibility of cloning
humans and monkeys using nuclear transfer, that is, taking genetic material
from a cell and inserting it into an unfertilized egg. So, the recent
announcements of cloned babies seem to be scams.

[url]http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=00015573-DBA6-1
E95-8EA5809EC5880000[/url]

Human cloning could face obstacles greater than governmental regulations.
According to a report published online today by the journal Science,
reproductive cloning in rhesus monkeys is hindered by the absence of key
proteins that control cell division and the splitting of chromosomes. The
findings indicate that reproductive cloning of primates, including humans,
is unachievable using current techniques.

<snip>


[rhinoceros]
Hermit's post reminded me of Tetra and Andi, the rhesus monkeys. Who knows
how they are doing these days... Interesting results, although not what we
call reproductive cloning these days. The good old sperm injection into an
egg was used, and the embryo was hosted in a surrogate mother.


The story of Tetra: Embryo splitting (Jan 2000)

[url]http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,33640,00.html[/url]

"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

<snip>

See also:
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/602027.stm[/url]


The story of Andi, the first genetically modified primate (Jan 2001)

[url]http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000F386E-F471-1C59-B882809EC
588ED9F[/url]

Researchers have succeeded in producing the first genetically modified
primate, according to a report published today in the journal Science. The
baby rhesus monkey, dubbed ANDi (backwards for inserted DNA), was born in
early October and carries an extra gene that was slipped into his mother's
egg prior to fertilization. Such engineering may ultimately point the way to
improved gene therapy treatments for human diseases.

Producing ANDi was no small feat. Gerald Schatten of the Oregon Health
Sciences University and his colleagues modified some 224 eggs, but only
ended up with three healthy babies. And successful integration of the extra
DNA occurred only in ANDi. Although researchers hope to eventually use such
techniques to produce the non-human primate equivalent of transgenic mice,
which have proved so useful in disease studies, the extra DNA ANDi received
does not cause disease. Rather it is a marker gene. Taken from a jellyfish,
the so-called GFP gene should produce a fluorescent protein when activated,
making it easy to detect. So far none of the cells sampled have revealed the
telltale glow. But expression may not occur until he is older. In the
meantime, ANDi remains healthy and "plays normally with his two roommates,"
according to Schatten.
"Monkeys like ANDi and Tetra, a cloned monkey, will quickly but safely help
us determine if innovative therapies are safe and effective," Schatten
remarks. "It may soon be possible to introduce markers monitored by
non-invasive techniques, such as MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] or PET
[positron emission tomography], to discover the developmental events that
lead to diseases like diabetes, heart disease and even mental
illnesses. --Kate Wong

See also:
[url]http://www.ohsu.edu/news/011001monkey.shtml[/url]
[url]http://www.ohsu.edu/news/011001monkeybkgd.shtml[/url]