Woah! Check this out.
US scientists have used stem cell technology to create mice from two fathers, an advancement which may not only potentially help preserve endangered species and also help same-sex couples have their own genetic children one day!
That's so exciting!
In the study published Wednesday in the journal Biology of Reproduction, reproductive scientists were able to manipulate cells from a male (XY) mouse fetus to produce an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell line.
Some of the cells that were grown from this new line spontaneously lost their Y chromosome, turning them into XO cells.
Those XO cells were injected into embryos from donor female mice and transplanted into surrogate mouse moms who gave birth to babies with one X chromosome from the original male mouse.
Those babies grew and later mated with normal male mice with their offspring, both male and female, showing genetic contributions from two fathers.
With a variation to their technique, researchers say:
"It may also be possible to generate sperm from a female donor and produce viable male and female progeny with two mothers."
Even though the ability to replicate the results in humans is a long way off, it's cool to see these kinds of scientific advances on the horizon.
Previous research has found ways to create mice without any fathers at all, as well as ways to create mice with two mothers.
[Image via AP Images.]
Tags: babies, endangered, mouse, offspring, research, scientists, sperm
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