The results of the study will help to find new sources for embryonic stem cells.
Biologists from the University of Bath in the UK was able to obtain living embryos from unfertilized oocytes of mice. This body is called parthenogenesis, however, many embryos usually die because of their normal functioning of the desired genes contained in the sperm. Article scientists published in the journal Nature Communications.
Parthenogenesis is also known as the “virgin breeding”, because the body — parthenogenic — in this case, is formed from the egg without the participation of the male. To improve the viability of such embryos, biochemists have developed a method of introducing sperm into parthenogenetic mouse. They were able to increase the likelihood of successful development of embryos in healthy animals up to 24 percent.
For a long time it was thought that only egg receiving genetic information from the male reproductive cells that can develop into a full organism. Now, however, it is shown that the role of female sex cells may also take any cell of parthenogenetic.
According to scientists, the results of the study will help to find new sources for embryonic stem cells. Parthenogenetic considered not viable, so this avoids ethical barriers encountered in studies with normal embryos.
