New Sperm Cells

[Benthur]

I don't know if anyone has posted this already, but I was wondering what people thought about artificial sperm cells that can be made from bone marrow. I heard people say its good because infertile men could still have children, but I've also heard its bad because it would allow lesbians to have children without any father involved. They could only have girls, but I still think its interesting.

 

[draqon]

sounds cool, except we're forgetting about benefits of evolution, we don't want to end up as mutants, don't we?

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

but I've also heard its bad because it would allow lesbians to have children without any father involved.

Firstly, I’m not sure that is possible. There is a phenomenon in mammalian embryonic development called “genetic imprinting”. In recent years scientists have identified an ever growing number of genes that play vital roles in development that are “imprinted”. In other words, they are “stamped” as having come from either the father or the mother. During development the cells of a developing mammalian embryo can somehow detect the imprinting of these genes and will specifically activate the copy that has come from only one of the parents. For some genes it is the maternal copy that is active, for others it is the paternal copy.

So, for embryonic development to proceed past a certain point, both a paternal and maternal contribution to the genome is required.

Secondly, assuming it was possible, why is it “bad” for lesbians to have children without any father involved?