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At Long Last, Mice Produce Sperm From Monkeys
Hoon Mihn Fao writes "The BBC Reports: 'Mice have been used to produce viable monkey sperm using tissue transplanted from the testes of macaques.
The U.S. scientists involved say their work might one day help to conserve animals that are facing extinction.'"
...how surprised the mouse on the recieving end of this will be when she gives birth to a monkey.
Paul Lenhart writes words!
...Those mice are f*cking like monk-- oh, wait.
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
Clearly the Python insult "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" is closer to becoming s statement of fact.
For a minute there I thought it said "spam from monkeys."
goes to this statement;
It might also be possible to grow human sperm in mice, although the team agree this would be a controversial move.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
"It might also be possible to grow human sperm in mice, although the team agree this would be a controversial move."
GUARD 1: It's not a question of whether it's controversial! It's a simple question of size ratios! A five-inch mouse cannot carry a one-foot human baby!
GUARD 2: Well suppose two mice carried it together
-- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Adapted)
"The amount of intelligence on this planet is a constant. The population is growing." -Cole's Axiom
Wait, on second thought, please don't answer that.
I forget what 8 was for.
"At Long Last, Mice Produce Sperm From Monkeys"
Wow... somebody has VERY specific tastes....
"Derp de derp."
It took me at least 10 seconds to realize that I had NOT misread the title. *shudder*
hmm, that would make a slashdot story..
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
I know nobody here reads the articles, but the most disturbing part of the whole procedure is that the testicular material is grafted onto the mouse's back. The mouse must then be constantly producing a thin gelatinous ooze of reproductive material, which is attempting to burrow into anything and everything nearby.
Eww.
The ______ Agenda
I'm no cell biologist, but it seems this process could be used to bring back extinct species as well, or at least a part of them[....] Of course, one would then need a female.... maybe an elephant?
That's the rub (no pun intended).
While we have a basic understanding of genetics, our understanding of embryogenesis -- how a baby organism is built from the genetic code -- is still rather limited.
We also, in most cases we don't know what a particular gene does, and given that other genes can control a gene's expression, and those genes can be controlled by yet other genes, and all the genes in the process can be influenced by the organisms internal -- hormones, etc. -- and external environment, just what a gene does is a complicated question.
But it's clear that the environment of the embryo -- which is, by and large, the embryo's mother -- has a strong influence on what's actually produced from the genetic "recipe".
Experiments cloning cats, for instance, have shown that pelt patterns and hair color are only a little influence by the gene (which makes sense if you consider that getting locked into one pattern, over many generations, makes for poor camouflage -- so not having pelt patterns under genetic control may in fact be a very successful genetic adaptation).
So while elephants are related to mammoths, it's still an open question whether injecting mammoth DNA into an elephant egg would produce anything viable, let alone anything that would survive to term and be healthy. But you're correct, it might be possible, and if it is, we could then breed successively less "elephant-contaminated" generations of mammoths.
But it's still far from trivial, and shouldn't be seen as an excuse, as some would use it, to be blase about species extinctions and dwindling species diversity occurring in the present.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
From the article: "Prepubescent boys undergoing treatment for cancer that will render them sterile could benefit, Professor Dobrinski suggest."
"Billy, the doctors have good news. The cancer is in remission, and you're going to make a complete recovery! And guess what else? The doctors have given you a pet immunodeficient mouse! Take good care of him Mr. Fuzzy if you ever want to have kids of your own."
The angel in the oatmeal.
This explains what people mean when they say "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle" !!