[ExI] Smarter monkeys through Genetic Engineering?

[John Clark]

A gene called "ARHGAP11B" that is found in humans and in no other animal
has long been thought to be at least partially responsible for humans
having an extremely large brain with a high degree of cortical folding. All
other primates have a similar gene, but a point mutation happened between
500,000 and 1.5 million years ago and a single C was changed to a G in the
human version. In yesterday's issue of the journal Science researchers
report than when Genetic engineering was used to insert the human gene
ARHGAP11B into the fertilized egg of a small monkey (a marmoset ) the
result was a fetus with about 45% more neurons in the neocortex than a
normal fetus and 3 times as many glial cells. A marmoset gestation period
is 152 days but because it had a human gene in it the fetus was aborted
after just 101 days due to ethical guidelines, so it's not known how such
an animal's behavior would change if it was allowed to come to term.

Human-specific ARHGAP11B increases size and folding of primate neocortex in
the fetal marmoset
<https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/06/17/science.abb2401>

John K Clark
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