Male egg explained

Male egg can refer to either:

1. An egg that artificially contains genetic material from a male.

1. An egg from a haplodiploid species such as an ant or bee that is unfertilized and will hatch a male^[1]
2. A fertilized egg that a male organism is developing in^[2]

This article focuses on the first definition.

Male eggs are the result of a process in which the eggs of a female would be emptied of their genetic contents (a technique similar to that used in the cloning process), and those contents would be replaced with male DNA. Such eggs could then be fertilized by sperm. The procedure was conceived by Calum MacKellar, a Scottish bioethicist. With this technique, two males could be the biological parents of a child. However, such a procedure would additionally require an artificial womb or a female gestational carrier.^{[3] [4] [5]}

In 2023, male eggs from male mice cells were developed and used to create bi-paternal mice that grew into adulthood;^{[6] [7]} bi-paternal mice had been obtained in 2008, but they only survived for a few days.^{[8] [9] [10]}

See also

• Female sperm
• Male pregnancy
• LGBT reproduction
• Genomic imprinting

Notes and References

1. Web site: Male Egg - an overview ScienceDirect Topics . 2022-03-20 . www.sciencedirect.com.
2. Zhang . Sarah . How Egg Farms Will Stop Killing Millions of Male Chicks . en-US . Wired . 2022-03-20 . 1059-1028.
3. http://www.bioethics.org.uk/2_fathrs.htm EUROPEAN BIOETHICAL RESEARCH: "CHILDREN WITH TWO GENETIC FATHERS"
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/940790.stm BBC News: "Male-only conception 'highly speculative'"
5. http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=3904 Center for Genetics and Society: "Are male eggs and female sperm on the horizon?"
6. News: 2023-03-08 . Breakthrough as eggs made from male mice cells . en-GB . BBC News . 2023-03-27.
7. Ledford . Heidi . Kozlov . Max . 2023-03-09 . The mice with two dads: scientists create eggs from male cells . Nature . en . 615 . 7952 . 379–380 . 10.1038/d41586-023-00717-7. 36894725 . 257428648 .
8. Li . Zhi-Kun . Wang . Le-Yun . Wang . Li-Bin . Feng . Gui-Hai . Yuan . Xue-Wei . Liu . Chao . Xu . Kai . Li . Yu-Huan . Wan . Hai-Feng . Zhang . Ying . Li . Yu-Fei . Li . Xin . Li . Wei . Zhou . Qi . Hu . Bao-Yang . 2018-11-01 . Generation of Bimaternal and Bipaternal Mice from Hypomethylated Haploid ESCs with Imprinting Region Deletions . Cell Stem Cell . English . 23 . 5 . 665–676.e4 . 10.1016/j.stem.2018.09.004 . 1934-5909 . 30318303. 205251810 . free .
9. News: 2018-10-11 . Same-sex mice have babies . en-GB . BBC News . 2023-03-27.
10. Rehm . Jeremy . 2018-10-11 . Healthy mice from same-sex parents have their own pups . Nature . en . 10.1038/d41586-018-06999-6. 187285286 .