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The Green Guide

Update on Genetic Engineering Experiments on Animals

From: teel@adax.com
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:58 PDT
Subject: transgenic animals

1. Transgenic Goats May Secrete Spider Silk; Cloned Goat Dies
2. New Method Sets Stage for Commercialization of Cow Cloning
3. First In Utero Gene Transfer in Monkeys
4. Gene Targeting Produces Transgenic Sheep
5. New Methods for Cloning Pigs; New Evidence for Xenotransplantation Concerns
6. Jellyfish Genes in Rabbits: For Art's Sake?

TRANSGENIC ANIMAL ROUNDUP

Germline engineering and cloning of mammals is underway at biotech
companies and universities around the world. During the past few months,
researchers in the US, Canada, the UK, Japan, and China have announced
the birth of cloned or genetically modified (transgenic) goats, sheep,
pigs, cows, mice, monkeys, and rabbits.

Some of this work is aimed at medical applications, including production
of human proteins in the milk of transgenic animals, and xenotransplant-
ation. Some is intended for strictly commercial uses: for example, more
efficient production of meat or super-strong fibers. A collaboration
between an artist and genetic scientists has produced a transgenic rabbit
that glows in the dark for a museum exhibit. (See below.)

Skeptics have raised a variety of concerns about many of these intended
applications and some of the methods used to produce transgenic animals.
Areas of concern include threats to human health, animal welfare, and
environmental integrity; the patenting of animals; further corporate
concentration in our food systems; and ethical and cultural objections
to the technological transformation of animals.

Focusing as we do on human genetic technologies, we note that many of
the techniques being developed are similar to those that could be used
for human germline engineering and reproductive cloning. We hope that
the production of genetically altered mammals will not foster acceptance
for genetically modified human beings.
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1. Transgenic Goats May Secrete Spider Silk; Cloned Goat Dies

One of Canada's leading animal transgenic companies, Nexia Biotechno-
logies, announced in late August that it is "on the verge" of producing
goats that secrete spiders' silk in their milk. The announcement came
as Nexia prepared to breed two male transgenic goats with a herd of
unmodified females. Nexia scientists expect the offspring to produce
milk containing the spider silk protein, which Nexia will use to
manufacture a material lighter and stronger than steel. Anticipated
uses include "aircraft, racing vehicles and bullet-proof clothing,"
as well as "sutures for eye- or neurosurgery" and "artificial tendons,
ligaments and limbs." See <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/
newsid_889000/889951.stm>.

Nexia is being targeted by the Bioengineering Action Network of North
America. See <http://gefree.tao.ca/REserach/00/06/30/1535245.shtml>.

Two cloned goats were born in Xian, China in June, but one died after
36 hours because of abnormal lung development. The researchers expect
the birth of a cloned ox before the end of the year. Chinese scientists
say they want to use cloning to save endangered species such as the
giant panda and the white flag freshwater dolphin. See <http://www.
thenews.com.tw/health/200006/23/07424100.html>.
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2. New Method Sets Stage for Commercialization of Cow Cloning

At the end of August, University of Tennessee researchers announced the
birth of the world's first cloned Jersey calf, the third cow cloned from
adult cow cells. The other cloned cows were produced at Texas A&M and
the University of Connecticut within the past year.

The Tennessee scientists described their method as a simplified version
of the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique developed by the Roslin
Institute. "We basically were able to use routine cell culture methods
in the laboratory," which could make cloning on a commercial basis more
affordable, said team leader Dr. Lannett Edwards.
See <http://web.utk.edu/~taescomm/utclone.html>.
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3. First In Utero Gene Transfer in Monkeys

Researchers at Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio announced in May
the transfer of foreign genes into rhesus macaques monkeys fetuses. The
researchers injected 14 macaque fetuses with two retroviral vectors that
carried a fluorescing marker gene derived from jellyfish. All the infants
were reportedly healthy and normal, and expressed the fluorescing gene in
every cell of their bodies for about a month. After that, the expression
of the marker gene stopped. The lead researcher speculated that the
monkeys may have mounted an immune response to the foreign protein.
See <http://ipn.intelihealth.com/IPN/ihtIPN?st=23883&t=7223&c=282290>.
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4. Gene Targeting Produces Transgenic Sheep

Scientists at PPL Therapeutics announced in the June 29 issue of Nature
that they had produced two cloned sheep with a specific gene modification.
Their method involved adding a human gene at a pre-selected location on
the chromosomes of sheep cells, and then transferred the nuclei of those
cells to enucleated sheep eggs. This was the first time such "gene
targeting" methods had succeeded in any mammal besides mice.

With other methods of producing transgenic animals, the foreign genes
are incorporated into the animal's genome at a random location. The
results are unpredictable, and often disastrous for the developing
animal. PPL research director Alan Colman called the ability to
reliably control the genetic manipulation of mammals "a sort of the
Holy Grail." See <http://helix.nature.com/nsu/000629/000629-8.html>.

Following the announcement, PPL revealed that the human DNA they had
inserted into the sheep was used without the knowledge of its donor.
The disclosure was prompted by rumors that the DNA had come from the
Maori community, many of whose members find genetic modification of
animals "culturally offensive." In New Zealand, "fierce opposition"
to PPL's work is also based on concerns about containing the
transgenes in the experimental population.
See <www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,338912,00.html>.
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5. New Methods for Cloning Pigs; New Evidence for Xenotransplantation
Concerns

Two groups of researchers, one at the National Institute of Animal
Industry in Japan and one at PPL Therapeutics, announced in August
details of the methods they'd used to successfully clone pigs. Each
method was a different variation on the somatic nuclear transfer
technique developed at the Roslin Institute. See <http://abcnews.go.
com/sections/science/DailyNews/clonedpig000816.html>.

Researchers are eager to perfect the cloning of pigs, which has proven
more difficult than in sheep, goats, or cows, because pig organs are
the right size for "xenotransplantation" into humans. The pig organs
would have to be genetically engineered so that they were not rejected
by the human immune system.

The Campaign for Responsible Transplantation argues that xenotransplant-
ation should be banned. CRT points to the threat of human epidemics
that might be caused by porcine retroviruses, and describes other
approaches could solve the organ shortage. A study at the Scripps
Institute in La Jolla, California, published in August on the Nature
magazine web site, provides new evidence that these safety concerns
are well-founded. The Scripps researchers found that mice given pig
tissue transplants became infected with pig viruses, as did human cells
in culture with the pig retroviruses. See <www.crt-online.org> and
<www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4051587,00.html>.

Following the announcement of the Scripps findings, Geron BioMed, the
California company that last year purchased the patent for the cloning
technique developed at the Roslin Institute, withdrew its funding for
the xenotransplantation project at PPL Therapeutics. Roslin also
announced that it will stop its xenotransplantation work, but insists
that this decision is based on "purely commercial" considerations. PPL
has pledged to continue its xenotransplantation project.
See <www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4051342,00.html>
and <http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000817/sc/pigs_dc_2.html>.

Meanwhile, a Georgia biotech start-up, ProLinia, Inc., has drawn up a
business plan for cloning livestock on a commercial basis when the
technology is developed. ProLinia plans, for example, to sell farmers
cloned pigs that will produce leaner bacon and meatier pork chops.
According to the Washington Post (Terence Chea, "Going Whole Hog for
Cloning," August 5, 2000), Smithfield Foods Inc., one of the world's
largest pork producers, has invested $1 million in ProLinia on the
basis of its cloning plans.
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6. Jellyfish Genes in Rabbits: For Art's Sake?

Eduardo Kac, a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,
has teamed up with French geneticists to produce a rabbit that glows in
the dark by injecting rabbit zygotes with a fluorescent protein gene
derived from jellyfish.

Kac has stirred controversy since he announced a plan to create a trans-
genic dog at an Ars Electronica gathering in Austria last September
(Lori Andrews, "Weird Science," Chicago, Aug 2000). Some other artists
were appalled by the plan. "It's one thing for an artist to experiment
on a canvas, but it's entirely different to experiment on a living
creature," said Ellen Ullman, author of "Close to the Machine." Ullman
pointed out that the harm isn't limited to the modified creature.
"What does it do to a society to casually create fluorescent dogs?"
(Tom Abate, "Artist Proposes Using Jellyfish Genes to Create Glow-in-
the-Dark Dogs," San Francisco Chronicle, October 18, 1999.)

Many other artists are exploring biotechnology and its social meaning
(without producing transgenic animals). A show called "Paradise Now:
Picturing the Genetic Revolution" is at the Exit Art gallery in Manhattan
from September 9 until October 28. An exhibit called "Unnatural Science"
will be at MassMOCA until April 15, 2001. See <http://www.massmoca.org/
visual_arts/unnatural_science/index.html>.

Other shows are planned at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the
International Center of Photography in New York, and the University
of Washington's Henry Art Gallery in Seattle. (Jordan Lite, "Artists
Mine Genomic Issues," Wired News, May 13, 2000
<http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,36288,000.html>.)