Discoveries

March 21, 2023

Father + Father

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Scientists created mice from two fathers in a breakthrough that could lead to radical developments in human reproduction, the Telegraph reported.

Achieving this required turning male-sex XY chromosomes into female-sex XX chromosomes, according to project biologist Katsuhiko Hayashi, who presented his findings – which need to be peer-reviewed – to the International Summit on Human Genome Editing in London, United Kingdom.

To do this, the project team used a technique that involved taking a skin cell from a male mouse and then converting it into a stem cell. Because stem cells can turn into any type of cell, the research team deleted the Y chromosomes, duplicated the X ones and then stuck the two Xs together, according to the BBC.

This method allowed the stem cell to be programmed to become an egg.

But Hayashi noted that only seven mice were born from 600 embryos they created. He added, however, that the pups were healthy and lived on to have offspring on their own.

The world-renowned biologist explained that this technique could be applied to humans in the future, such as by providing fertility treatments for males, females, and same-sex couples.

Still, he and other scientists cautioned that more research is needed to ensure that the method is safe. Moreover, there will be a lot of ethical debates about the procedure’s use.

This story originally appeared in the March 21, 2023 newsletter, A Hatchet in the Ground.