<p>Scientists have shown for the first time that offsprings can be produced from non-egg cells, a breakthrough that may have potential future applications in human fertility treatments and for conserving endangered animal species.</p>.<p>Eggs can be 'tricked' into developing into an embryo without fertilisation, but the resulting embryos, called parthenogenotes, die after a few days because key developmental processes requiring input from sperm do not happen.<br /><br />Scientists from the University of Bath in the UK developed a method of injecting mouse parthenogenotes with sperm that allows them to become healthy baby mice with a success rate of up to 24 per cent.<br /><br />This compares to a rate of zero per cent for parthenogenotes or about two per cent for nuclear transfer cloning.<br /><br />Mice born by this method appear healthy and are able to produce at least two generations of offspring.<br /><br />"This is first time that full term development has been achieved by injecting sperm into embryos," said Tony Perry, from University of Bath.<br /><br />"It had been thought that only an egg cell was capable of reprogramming sperm to allow embryonic development to take place," Perry said.<br /><br />"Our work challenges the dogma, held since early embryologists first observed mammalian eggs around 1827 and observed fertilisation 50 years later, that only an egg cell fertilised with a sperm cell can result in a live mammalian birth," he said.<br /><br />The baby mice born as a result of the technique seem completely healthy, but their DNA started out with different epigenetic marks compared with normal fertilisation.<br /><br />This suggests that different epigenetic pathways can lead to the same developmental destination, something not previously shown.<br /><br />The discovery has ethical implications for recent suggestions that human parthenogenotes could be used as a source of embryonic stem cells because they were considered inviable.<br /><br />It also hints that in the long-term future it could be possible to breed animals using non-egg cells and sperm.<br /><br />Although this is still only an idea, it could have potential future applications in human fertility treatment and for breeding endangered species.<br /><br />The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. </p>
<p>Scientists have shown for the first time that offsprings can be produced from non-egg cells, a breakthrough that may have potential future applications in human fertility treatments and for conserving endangered animal species.</p>.<p>Eggs can be 'tricked' into developing into an embryo without fertilisation, but the resulting embryos, called parthenogenotes, die after a few days because key developmental processes requiring input from sperm do not happen.<br /><br />Scientists from the University of Bath in the UK developed a method of injecting mouse parthenogenotes with sperm that allows them to become healthy baby mice with a success rate of up to 24 per cent.<br /><br />This compares to a rate of zero per cent for parthenogenotes or about two per cent for nuclear transfer cloning.<br /><br />Mice born by this method appear healthy and are able to produce at least two generations of offspring.<br /><br />"This is first time that full term development has been achieved by injecting sperm into embryos," said Tony Perry, from University of Bath.<br /><br />"It had been thought that only an egg cell was capable of reprogramming sperm to allow embryonic development to take place," Perry said.<br /><br />"Our work challenges the dogma, held since early embryologists first observed mammalian eggs around 1827 and observed fertilisation 50 years later, that only an egg cell fertilised with a sperm cell can result in a live mammalian birth," he said.<br /><br />The baby mice born as a result of the technique seem completely healthy, but their DNA started out with different epigenetic marks compared with normal fertilisation.<br /><br />This suggests that different epigenetic pathways can lead to the same developmental destination, something not previously shown.<br /><br />The discovery has ethical implications for recent suggestions that human parthenogenotes could be used as a source of embryonic stem cells because they were considered inviable.<br /><br />It also hints that in the long-term future it could be possible to breed animals using non-egg cells and sperm.<br /><br />Although this is still only an idea, it could have potential future applications in human fertility treatment and for breeding endangered species.<br /><br />The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. </p>