The pups could foreshadow a future in which two men can have biological children together.
For the first time, scientists have created healthy, fertile mouse pups from the DNA of two adult males — no female DNA required.
While the research is currently only a proof of concept and has yet to be peer-reviewed, the team behind the process thinks it could translate to people — meaning two men could potentially have biological children together one day.
Reproduction 2.0: For nearly all of humanity’s existence, reproduction has required sperm from one man and an egg from one woman — put the two together in a welcoming womb, and nine months later, you have a baby.
Science is disrupting this status quo.
“Purely in terms of technology, it will be possible [in humans] even in 10 years.”
~ Katsuhiko Hayashi
In 2016, researchers reported the birth of a baby with DNA from three people — the result of a technique to prevent him from inheriting a disorder from his mom. While all of the baby’s nuclear DNA came from one sperm and one egg, the child also inherited mitochondria, which have their own DNA, from a third donor.
The next major reproduction disruption could be babies born with DNA from two same-sex people.
My two dads: In 2004, researchers in Japan announced that, with a hefty dose of genetic manipulation, they’d managed to use the eggs of two female mice to create embryos. After implanting those embryos into a surrogate, she gave birth to a healthy pup.
In 2018, a team from China became the first to use DNA from two male mice to create embryos that developed into live pups — but those mice died just a couple of days after birth.
Now, researchers at Osaka University in Japan have announced that they’ve managed to create mouse pups from the DNA of two dads, and not only did these pups survive to adulthood, they were also able to become parents themselves (the ol’ fashioned way).
