Considering that we used one 23Y and one 23X (Or two 23X) sperm cells to avoid a 46YY genotype,why wouldnt it work?
In: Biology
Mostly due to something called imprinting. There are multiple levels of genetic control. The most basic is the DNA code itself, but there are several more that most people don’t know about. When an egg or sperm cell is created those other processes make special modifications to the DNA without changing the code itself. This is called imprinting. And an X sperm cell does not have the same imprinting as an egg, so you can’t just combine an x and y sperm cell and get a baby. If you tried it often enough maybe it would work eventually but the zygote would not be viable and would abort pretty early in development.
First, your understanding of the XY chromosome is lacking. If there is an XX egg or XY sperm that’s a generic error. It’s an X egg and an X or Y sperm.
Second, the X chromosome is much larger than the Y and contains numerous important codes. A YY embryo wouldn’t have those and would die.
Third, it wouldn’t have mitochondria. It’s a common misconception that sperm don’t have mitochondria. They do, they need them to swim, but they don’t deliver those mitochondria to the newly formed embryo. A YY embryo would also lack mitochondria.
My understanding is that the ovum includes a lot of stuff in addition to the chromosomes, for example mitochondria. The sperm only includes the dna.
There’s actually been some fairly successful research put into changing sperm cells into egg cells and eggs into sperm cells.
The last I heard, they were successful with mice and rats but haven’t been given the go ahead to begin testing with human cells yet.
Was trying to look up one of the articles on it but couldn’t find the results because apparently in the last year scientists have managed to create both sperm and egg cells from stem cells. so… wow.
The ELI5 answer is that the contents of the ovum are necessary for a viable zygote to form following fertilization. Sperm doesn’t contribute much besides the raw genetic code, everything else that is needed is in the ovum.
See it like a zipper. You can have 3 chains, but the zipper can only join 2 together.
(I have no idea what i’m talking about though..)
An egg (ovum) provides not just half the genetic material but also needed cellular machinery and nutrients that kickstart the development of an embryo. Sperm cells are specialized to deliver DNA but lack the cellular environment needed to support development. During the formation of eggs and sperm, certain genes are marked, or “imprinted,” to be active or inactive depending on whether they come from the mother or the father. These imprints are needed for normal development. Combining two sets of paternal DNA would disrupt this balance, leading to abnormal development. Normal human cells have 46 chromosomes, organized into 23 pairs. Each parent contributes one chromosome per pair. Sperm cells and egg cells are haploid, meaning they contain 23 unpaired chromosomes. When two sperm cells combine, the resulting cell would have 46 unpaired chromosomes, rather than 23 pairs, causing significant genetic issues and preventing normal development. Sperm cells are specialized for their role in fertilization, and they are not equipped to merge with each other in a way that would allow for normal cell division and embryo development. They are designed to fuse with an egg cell, which provides the necessary environment and signals for proper embryonic growth. It’s intriguing. The biological processes and requirements for creating a viable embryo are complex.
Well they are doing science with mice and have had two males be the biological parents doing something similar
It’s just so inefficient compared to the regular way or even using stem cells
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