The end of Dad: Scientists use two female mice to create living offspring

The genes of two female mice have been used to create living offspring in a Chinese laboratory. 

According to UK newspaper The Times, researchers at China's Academy of Sciences edited the mice's DNA to sidestep the need for "male imprinted" genetic material from a male, effectively rewriting one set of female genes to do the job and create new life. 

Offspring were created from two male mice at the same time, but they did not survive. 

Scientists in China claim they have used the DNA of two female mice to create living babies.

More than 200 embryos were created from the rewritten genetic matter, 20 survived to become healthy female animals. 

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According to the Scientific American, lead biologist Qi Zhou calls it "a new way to produce offspring of same-sex mammals". 

Which makes what is an incredibly complex process sound easy. It's anything but. 

It involves dousing eggs in chemicals to make them divide as though they have been fertilised. Then some unnecessary cells are washed out of the eggs, leaving stem cells and one set of DNA in each egg.

UNSW

The technique re-writes female DNA to do the same job as male genetic material.

Then CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing - which uses DNA and RNA sequences culled from bacteria to pinpoint and delete human genes - turns off the genes that tell the remaining cells to be female, encouraging the egg to behave like sperm. 

The newly created faux-sperm is injected into a prepared egg creating an embryo, no father required. 

According to The Times, the research, which appeared in medical journal Stem Cell, does not necessarily mean human women will be able to sidestep Dad in the near future, however. 

Critics of the work, including University of Otago professor Tim Hore, pointed out a number of shortfalls in the research, including ethical issues stemming from the high risk of severe abnormalities, and the fact the process will only result in female offspring. 

"The work does fall short of creating mammalian offspring from the same sex in the absence of substantial genetic modification," Hore told The Times. "Meaning it is unlikely to be useful in humans - for now."

 - Stuff

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