A team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have successfully produced healthy infant mice using two female mice. The study was intended to determine why same-sex mammals cannot reproduce, and whether or not it could be made possible by an outside genetic influence. As it turns out, it completely can!
In previous studies, mice produced from gene edited eggs from same-sex mammals were born with birth defects. This was due to missing chromosomes that would normally be obtained from a father. To remedy this, the team, led by Dr. Qi Zhou, implanted the eggs with haploid embryonic stem cells that contained half the DNA from each parent. With this new method, 29 mice were successfully produced. All of these mice were in perfect health, aged into adulthood, and successfully had their own offspring with no apparent difficulties. Interestingly, Zhou’s team also attempted to produce bi-paternal mice- infants with two fathers. However, though 12 mice were successfully produced, they all died within 48 hours. Zhou believes this is due to more variables in the production process, such as an increased number of required genes and requirement of a surrogate mother.
Zhou believes that the bi-paternal issue can be solved with a little more research.
