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Published online 24 December 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1336
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Rat embryonic stem cells created
Genetically engineered rats should follow soon, providing new models of human disease.
Rat pluripotent stem cells - the essential ingredient for making genetically engineered versions of the animals - have finally been created after decades of effort in the field.
Scientists have long been able to alter the DNA in mouse embryonic stem cells, routinely creating mice with missing, added or altered genes.
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This is wonderful news for us interested in nutrition and metabolism. Mice are nice, but they are seed eaters. Rats are more human! They have the same "essential amino acids" as Homo sapiens, and eat a varied died like we do. This is good news for research on heart disease and diabetes! Let's go. Gill TJ, 3rd, Smith GJ, Wissler RW, Kunz HW (1989). The rat as an experimental animal. Science 245: 269-76. Functional Genomics and Rat Models. H. J. Jacob (1999) Genome Res. 9, 1013-1016 Genetic analysis for diabetes in a new rat model of nonobese type 2 diabetes, Spontaneously Diabetic Torii rat etc etc etc
First rats then humans. Anyway this is what we call scientific advancement sometimes even controversial.
Manipulation of rats seems a fantastic opportunity also to manage larger (than mice) human(ized) rodents in Pharma and therapeutic Biotech companies for studies with biotech drugs. Unfortunately biological distance from rodents and humans does not often allow the test of biotech drugs in rodents: the only possible approach accepted by health authorities to reduce risk in First in Man studies is often to use non-human primates. Therefore in Pharma and Biotech world each effort to humanize small animals (like rats) and to increase the opportunity to reduce the use of primates seems really more than welcome.
Scientist have already been creating knockout rats using a variety of mobile DNA technologies. Please refer to the Knockout Rat Consortium website at http://www.knockoutrat.org/.