Mammalian offspring derived from a single unfertilized egg

Bob Yirka is a writer for Phys.org.

A group of researchers in China and the U.S. have succeeded in creating offspring from a single unfertilized egg in a mouse. The group describes their technique in a paper that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

embryo development from a single unfertilized egg is called parthenogenesis. In nature, it occurs in arthropods, but not in mammals. Sexual reproduction in mammals involves a fusion of male and female genes, with offspring having genetic material from both parents. Most of the cells in mammals express copies of genes from both parents, but a few do not, instead expressing genes from only the mother or father. The researchers took advantage of the exceptions.

The researchers note that prior research efforts have failed due to the fact that parthenogenesis in mammals is not possible. They took a different approach to overcome the problem. The work they did involved removing an egg from a mouse and using a new technology called CRISPR to modify its genes to mimic genes a male parent would have contributed during normal fertilization. The genes in the egg that have been fertilized by a father were switched on and off by injecting an enzyme into the egg. The fertilized egg was implanted into the woman's uterus and allowed to grow into a fetus. The researchers implanted several eggs into a single mouse uterus and gave birth to pups at a rapid rate. Only one of the pups survived to adulthood, but it did well enough to produce offspring as well.

The researchers suggest that parthenogenesis in mammals is possible, though they acknowledge that much more work is required before it can be used in real-world applications. They suggest that the process could lead to applications in agriculture or medicine.

More information: Yanchang Wei et al, Viable offspring derived from single unfertilized mammalian oocytes, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2115248119 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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