Born 29 live offspring using stem cells and editing of specific genes

Although they used a similar technique with two parents, newborn babies only survived a couple of days

had Previously born offspring of two mothers but had characteristics defective, and the method was very complex

Some reptiles, amphibians and fish are able to reproduce without two parents of different sexes. This is not the case of mammals. Now, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have managed to produce 29 healthy mice from two mothers using stem cells and the edition genetics. The results of the work have been published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

“we Wanted to know why the mammals can only reproduce by sexual intercourse. We try to find out if we could produce healthy mice of two females or even two males by using embryonic stem cells haploid with deletions of genes,” says Qi Zhou, co-author of the work.

In mammals, some genes from the mother or from the father are deactivated and are silenced during development of the gametes, through a mechanism called imprinting. The offspring which lack the genetic material of the mother or the father may suffer from developmental abnormalities or may not be viable.

29 live offspring of 210 embryos

The new 29 young chinese are not the first born of two mothers. In 2004, japanese researchers had already succeeded in producing mice bimaternos eliminating these genes improntados of immature eggs. “However, showed features defective, and the method was very impractical, difficult to use,” notes Zhou.

On this occasion, in place of eggs, the team of Zhou used embryonic stem cells (ESC) are haploid, containing half the normal number of chromosomes and DNA of only one parent, a female in this case. The researchers believe this was the key to success.

Eliminated three regions improntadas of the ESC haploid female and injected them into the eggs of another female. In total produced 29 living offspring of 210 embryos. The mice were born healthy, lived to adulthood and had their own offspring in the normal way.

According to the authors, one of the advantages of using these embryonic stem cells is that, even before they are deleted the gene problem, contain less imprinting scheduled. “The ESC haploids are more similar to primordial germ cells, precursors of eggs and sperm. The footprint genomics that is found in the gametes is cleared,” says Hu.