The CAS Institute of Neuroscience has successfully cloned two macaque apes from somatic cells. The group around SUN Qiang edited genes in vitro and accurately sifted and produced somatic cells with the same genotype. They removed the nucleus from an egg cell and replaced it with another nucleus from differentiated body cells. The reconstructed eggs produced embryos, which were put into the wombs of surrogate female monkeys, producing a group of cloned monkeys with the same genetic background. China plans to use this breakthrough to pioneer research in disease and brain science research by taking cloned macaques as animal models, e. g., for Alzheimer’ s, Parkinson’s disease and autism.

CAS news release, January 25, 2018