For the first time, scientists said Thursday that they had bred mice with two genetic fathers, steering around biological hurdles that would otherwise prevent same-sex parents from having offspring. The researchers also bred mouse pups with two genetic mothers. Those pups matured into adults and had pups of their own, outpacing previous efforts to create so-called bimaternal mice.
“This research shows us what’s possible,” Wei Li, a senior author of the study1, said in a statement. Li conducted the work with colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. But for now, the notion of reproducing the experiment in humans is more a matter of science fiction than science. The new study, which appeared in Cell Stem Cell, does not indicate that researchers can now or could anytime soon pull off a similar feat with people.
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“It really opens your imagination for what you can do in mammals,” said Dr. Nissim Benvenisty, the director of the Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was not involved in the study.