Scientists create spliced chimera monkey with glowing green eyes and fingers in chilling genetic engineering world-first

SCIENTISTS have created a spliced chimera monkey with glowing green eyes and fingers in a "Frankenscience" world first.

The alien-like species was created by the Chinese Academy of Sciences using genetic engineering tech.

The green-eyed chimera monkey was born with stem cells taken from two embryos, and could potentially help provide insights into neurological diseases and species preservation.

Chimeras in Greek mythology were fire-breathing monsters, resembling a lion in front, a goat in the middle and a dragon behind.

To scientists, chimeras are animals which contain groups of cells from two or more organisms with distinct types of DNA.

The three-old-day animal had a high proportion of cells derived from the same species of monkey - crab-eating macaques - but with different, unique genes.

The chimera monkey is the first of its kind, with previous work done using rats and mice.

For the study, the researchers used stem cell lines - groups of cells grown in a lab from a single stem cell - taken from a seven-day-old embryo.

These were then injected into embryos aged four to five days.

The embryos were implanted into female macaques, resulting in 12 pregnancies and six live births.

Of those six, one baby monkey was born alive and managed to survive for 10 days.

Analysis showed this male newborn had donor stem cells in 26 different types of tissue, ranging from 21 per cent to 92 per cent.

Meanwhile, a foetus that was miscarried was also "substantially chimeric", the researchers said.

Stem cell-derived cells were observed in the brain, heart, kidney, liver, and parts of the digestive system.

The mysterious glowing eyes and fingers were explained by the green fluorescent protein label used to determine which tissues contained cells derived from the injected stem cells.

While monkeys have been created in a lab using donor cells before, this is the first time they've produced such results, researchers said.

Professor Mu-Ming Poo, scientific director of the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "Just having several cells that are partially distributed all over the monkey body with no real formation or clear structures - you cannot really say that is chimera, strictly speaking.

"So the difference here is that now we have a very high level of contribution, with the donor cells forming a big part of the tissues and complex structures all over the monkey body."

It's hoped the research could fuel further discoveries on diseases, genetic engineering and preserving endangered species.

Study leader Dr Zhen Liu, also from the CAS, said: "Specifically, this work could help us to generate more precise monkey models for studying neurological diseases as well as for other biomedicine studies."

Chinese scientists created in 2019 the world's first human-monkey chimera, which could permit human organ-harvesting.

But the study has come under fire over ethical concerns.