Put a gene in your eyes and… there! See red and green!

2009/09/17 Lakar Iraizoz, Oihane - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Genetika
• Zoologia

Researchers at the University of Washington have achieved through gene therapy that two common cathode monkeys, able to recognize from birth to blue and only yellow, can also recognize it to green and red. A complete vision of colors.

In normal squirrel monkeys, all males have their own inability to see red and green. These monkeys need the two versions of the gene called opsine to differentiate them, since one gives them the ability to see the green and the other gives them the ability to see the red. The case is that this gene is found on the X chromosome and males have a single X chromosome. They therefore have a single gene, necessarily inseparable from red and green. Seeing in color is a thing of females in squirrel monkeys.

To solve this disability, scientists have used human genes: the pigment gene humans have to detect the red color was introduced into a virus vector deposited on the back of the retina of the two monkeys. Twenty weeks later they saw that monkeys were able to distinguish the green images from the red ones. In fact, monkeys began to win the prize (grape juice) by touching the red and green images that appeared on a screen.

Image courtesy of: Neitz Laboratory