Ask Lemmy

Interesting question, I found this

You can’t make a baby with two moms by simply fusing two eggs or adding one egg’s DNA to another’s.  Even though the resulting embryo would have the usual 46 chromosomes, this wouldn’t work.

The reason isn’t some special string of A’s, G’s, T’s or C’s found in dad’s DNA.  No, instead it has to do with chemical marks found on egg and sperm DNA.  This methylation (as the marks are called) makes the DNA from each parent unique, and you need both to make a baby.

What these marks do is affect how at least 80 different genes are used.  In science speak, these genes are imprinted.

As you may remember, we have two copies of each of our genes, one from each biological parent.  The chemical marks shut off either the copy from the egg or sperm, depending on which has the marks present.. 

If an embryo’s DNA came from two parents of the same sex, then both copies of some of these imprinted genes will be shut off.  And for the rest of these genes, both copies will be turned on.  Embryos simply can’t survive when so many genes are out of whack. In fact, diseases like Angelman syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome can happen when just one of these genes isn’t passed on properly.

You can read more here if you’re curious

There's an in development technology called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG) that would allow same sex couples as well as infertile people to have biological children. It's been in the works for over a decade and as far as I am aware has not yet been tested on humans.

There are three genomes that go into an embryo. One from the chromosomes of the large gamete, the egg, one from the chromosomes of the small gamete, the sperm, and one from the mitochondria, in humans from the egg as well. If you had two XX donors you could make XX kids. If you had two XY donors you could make XX, XY, and YY variants. The only viable ones would be XY and XX, YY would not reach gestation.

That said, if you took the DNA from gametes from each, removed the nucleus and mitochondria of an egg, added the total gametic DNA from both to the cell, added a mitochondria from either donor, then it should, in theory, be a viable egg like in IVF. This is actually a strategy for dealing with a mitochondrial disease by donating mitochondrial DNA from another source rather than those impacted by the disease. The problem would be there are many ways for this to go wrong and be left with an unviable embryo, so it would likely take many many eggs and many many donated cells to get a single viable egg with the donated DNA. That said, it could technically work.

For two females, you would have to implant one egg's DNA into a sperm whose DNA was "stripped out" And for two males, the same but transferred into an egg. I'd say it could be done in the near future with the progress we did with CRISPR in the last decade, for instance.

theres this

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2107219-exclusive-worlds-first-baby-born-with-new-3-parent-technique/

Hand waving away a lot of the developmental process, you could make a male or female offspring from 2 males or a female offspring from 2 females that would be indistinguishable from the variety in the normal population.

The obvious solution would be to just clone the parent.

Any hypothetical attempt to simulate recombination would produce a genetic clone at best—but more likely (even if you overcame the practical issues), you’d end up replacing some of the unique material on one half of each chromosome with a copy of the genes on the other half (with a corresponding increase in the risk of genetic defects).

This called parthenogenesis, and is a main plot line in the book Seveneves..

Obligatory "I'm not a biologist" disclaimer

You could take an X chromosome from both parents either way. And I'm pretty sure all the other chromosomes wouldn' make that much of a difference

Not a biologist, but I'm convinced it's possible.

With induced pluripotent stemcells (stemcells made from nearly any cell of the body which can grow into anything too), we'll find a way to make an egg from a man using any cells he provides. Then all you need is the other male partner's sperm and a donor womb. Btw, the womb won't have to be within a woman - artificial wombs are being researched.

Someone already posted the 3 parent technique. So it is at least already partially possible.

Since males have the XY chromosomes, they should be able to (theoretically) have female (XX) and male (XY) offspring. With advanced microbiology and artificial wombs, there's no doubt in my mind that we'll reach that point before the end of the century.

Not a biologist either. As a thought experiment it seems possible, with two women able to have a daughter, and two men either to have either a daughter or a son.

It sits one step beyond what we've already done to produce a child that has (in a sense) three genetic parents: https://www.ox.ac.uk/research/three-parent-baby-raises-issues-long-term-health-risks

Edit: another post already has shared that no, this isn't possible. Thank you @[email protected] .