Wow! Can you believe this ? US scientists have used stem cell technology to create mice from two males, an advance that they say could help preserve endangered species and even help same-sex couples have their own genetic children one day.
According to the study that was published in journal Biology of Reproduction, reproductive scientists in Texas were able to manipulate cells from a male (XY) mouse fetus to produce an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell line.
There iPS cells are adult cells that have undergone some genetic reprogramming in order to enter an embryonic stem cell-like state.
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. There offspring, both male and female, showed genetic contributions from two fathers.
The study was let by Richard R. Berhringer at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Researchers said that with a variation of their technique, “it may also to possible to generate sperm from a female done and produce viable male and female progeny with two mothers.”
However, the study cautioned that the ability to replicate the finding in humans was a long way off.
Looks like the first gay mice couple were even able to get their own child!