Babies could be brought into existence without a genetic mother after scientists created functional human eggs from skin [1].
American researchers demonstrated it was possible to replace the DNA from an egg with the genetic material from another person’s skin, male or female, turning the hybrid compound into a female sex cell ready for fertilisation.
The team then successfully fertilised the new ‘egg’ with sperm and began growing it into an embryo. The experiment was halted at six days – the point at which an embryo would usually be transferred to the womb in IVF.
The team has produced 82 functional eggs, which were fertilised in the lab, although only 9 per cent went on to develop into early embryos and all suffered from chromosomal abnormalities.
Nonetheless, the breakthrough opens the possibility of skin DNA from a man being placed inside a donor egg and fertilised by another man, leading to a baby with two genetic fathers and no DNA from a woman.