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Role for the longevity protein SIRT6 in primate development

Monkeys genetically engineered to lack the gene SIRT6 die a few hours after birth, displaying severe growth defects. This finding reveals a previously unknown role for the SIRT6 protein in primate development.
  1. Shoshana Naiman

    1. Shoshana Naiman is at The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel.

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  2. Haim Y. Cohen

    1. Haim Y. Cohen is at The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel.

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For decades, biologists using model organisms such as mice and fruit flies have faced concerns about the relevance of their findings to humans. Using a model that is more evolutionarily similar to humans, such as another primate, could potentially close this frustrating gap. In a paper online in Nature, Zhang et al.1 use CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing techniques to generate macaque monkeys lacking the gene SIRT6. Strikingly, they show that the SIRT6 protein has a role in embryonic development in macaques that was not previously uncovered in mice.

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Nature 560, 559-560 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05970-9

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