Japanese scientists create mice that have two fathers

SCIENTISTS say they have created mice with two fathers by producing eggs from male cells, in research that has the potential to open up radical developments for human reproduction.

The technique could pave the way to allowing two men to have children related to both fathers and could also treat a type of infertility in women.

However, scientists said much more research would need to be done and ethical considerations made before this would be considered in humans.

Prof Katsuhiko Hayashi, from Japan’s Osaka University, presented his findings – which are not yet published – to the International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the Francis Crick Institute in London.

The research involved creating a stem cell from a skin cell of a male mouse and removing a Y chromosome to allow it to turn into an egg. Just seven pups were born from 600 attempted implants. But these pups went on to live healthy lives, and have offspring of their own.