IAs a result of complex experiments, a research team claims to have been able to produce mouse babies with two biological fathers. According to media reports, study leader Katsuhiko Hayashi from Osaka University in Japan presented the as yet unpublished results at a conference in London.
According to this, the researchers were able to convert skin cells from male mice into egg cells using a special technique. They then fertilized these eggs with sperm and had the embryos carried to term by a female mouse. The result is mouse babies with two fathers. The results have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Mice with two biological mothers were introduced several years ago. At that time, experiments were also carried out with cells from two fathers, but these babies only survived a few days at most.
Survival rates for Hayashi’s approach have so far been low, according to a report in the journal Nature. Out of 630 embryos implanted in surrogate mothers, only seven developed into live mouse babies. However, these have grown normally and are also capable of reproduction, said Hayashi “Nature” at the conference.
The technology is still far from being transferred to humans. “There are big differences between mice and humans,” said the developmental biologist. Stem cell researcher George Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School, said the experiments were fascinating, according to the Guardian. However, too little is understood about the biology of the development of human gametes to be able to reproduce the experiments in mice in humans.