Researchers Create Mice from Two Fathers

From WSJ.com

Scientists have created mice that are the genetic product of two fathers, the latest in a series of unusual experiments in mammalian reproduction.

Researchers at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and elsewhere first engineered a female mouse whose eggs contained the DNA from a male. When the female was mated with another male, the offspring had genetic contributions entirely from two males. The study appears online in the peer-reviewed journal Biology of Reproduction.

While the achievement is technically intriguing, its practical benefits are far from clear. Any move to try the same experiment in people is certain to be more complicated and controversial.

The study describes the technique as "a new form of mammalian reproduction" that could potentially be used to improve livestock breeds or preserve endangered species. More provocatively, the authors argue that if certain technical hurdles can be overcome, "then some day two men could produce their own genetic sons and daughters." But those technical hurdles are extremely high.

"It has been a weird project, but we wanted to see if it could be done" in mice, says Richard Behringer, lead author of the study and a developmental geneticist at M.D. Anderson in Houston.

New techniques are allowing scientists to tweak the biology of reproduction in unusual ways. In April, scientists at U.K.'s Newcastle University created embryos with DNA taken from a man and two women. The research, published in the journal Nature, was undertaken to potentially help mothers avoid passing on rare genetic disorders to their children. The embryos weren't brought to term. In 2009, a cloning-related method was used to produce monkeys with genetic material from two mothers.

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