Stem cells and gene editing used to make mice with two mothers
Making mice from two fathers was more complicated, the researchers said
London — Chinese scientists said on Thursday that they had used gene editing and stem cell techniques to produce healthy mice with two mothers, which developed well enough to go on to have normal offspring of their own. In experiments designed to explore what makes it so difficult for some animals to reproduce with same sex parents, the researchers said mice from two fathers were also born, but survived for only a couple of days. The results, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, suggest some barriers to same-sex reproduction can be overcome with stem cells and targeted gene editing. But experts said there was no prospect of it being translated soon into humans for the creation of “gay” or “lesbian” babies. “To consider exploring similar technology for human application in the near future is implausible,” said Duško Ilić, a stem-cell specialist at King’s College London, who was asked to comment on the Chinese results. “The risk of severe abnormalities is too high, and it would ta...
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