Posted on: 17 September 2009, source: The Washington Post
Scientists say they have used gene therapy to enable colorblind monkeys to see red and green, possibly opening the door to curing colorblindness in people. Jay Neitz of the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues injected gene-carrying viruses into the retinas of two male squirrel monkeys, which are naturally colorblind. The gene carried instructions for the production of a protein known as opsin, which makes pigments that are sensitive to the colors red and green. About five weeks after the treatment, the monkeys -- named Dalton and Sam -- began to develop the ability to see those colors, according to the results of detailed testing reported this week in the journal Nature.