Chinese scientists make baby mice from same-sex parents
Science & Health
The South China Morning Post reports that “Chinese scientists have produced healthy mouse pups from two female parents with the help of DNA editing, according to a study published in the American scientific journal Cell Stem Cell.”
- The team had previously “derived mice with two female parents,” but they suffered from birth defects. This time, the mouse pups were healthy.
- The scientists also created mouse pups from two male parents, but they survived only a couple of days. In total, they produced 29 live mice from 210 embryos.
- Same-sex reproduction is difficult for mammals “because of a mechanism called genomic imprinting,” but the Chinese team was able to “mimic the presence of DNA from both genders by deleting certain genes.”
- Monkeys are next, according to one of the scientists, but he denied plans to use the techniques on people: “We cannot assert this technique can never be used in humans in the future. But for now, the answer is no,” he said.
