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There are some genetically engineered monkeys that have been injected with a rare human gene related to autism by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The attempt has been to understand brain malfunctions in the disorder leading to behavioral problems, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The transgenic monkeys mirror the "social isolation and repetitive behaviour" observed in most "autism spectrum disorders".

"We think this transgenic monkey offers a unique model to study human autism disorders," said Zilong Qui, lead researcher.

The monkeys displayed some psychiatric symptoms of autism, which included "pacing in circles and decreased social interaction", reports MIT Technology Review.

A couple of the apes even fell very sick just as shown by human children with the autism gene defect.

Chinese researchers are also using the genetically modified monkeys so that they can examine related diseases such as Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease. The experiment has raised a controversy, but many believe that the study is important in order to arrive at some conclusions regarding the disease.

"For understanding the human brain, we better have an animal model with a brain very close to the human brain," said Mu-ming Poo, director of a neuroscience institute in which five teams are developing transgenic monkeys in order to study various movement-related problems. "We think a nonhuman primate is absolutely required in the long run for the development of drugs for human psychiatric diseases."

However, even though the research is understood to be very beneficial, it might not get duplicated in the U.S. due to the "higher price and heightened controversy surrounding research on non-human primates", according to Scientific American.

The findings were published in Jan. 25,2016 issue of Nature.