I probably just have a really bad grasp on how genetics work, but if human eggs already have an X chromosome plus all the other necessary genes needed to combine with another haploid cell, why can’t 2 eggs just combine with each other to make an XX zygote?
In: Biology
Your body does some prep on sperm and eggs, basically “bookmarking” the DNA to make early development go more smoothly. The exact process of what is bookmarked is different between sperm and eggs. So if you try to fertilize an egg using DNA from two of the same type of sex cell, the bookmarks end up overall incorrect, it falls out of balance and can’t develop correctly. Cutting-edge research has figure out how to make egg-egg work in a lab with mice but the results aren’t great, and the male version has never been achieved.
Latest Answers