subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\nThe scientists first successfully tested the tool, which they named Y-CUT, on male mouse embryos obtained through in vitro fertilization. Then they produced cloned male mouse embryos through a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, in which a donor mouse\u2019s cell nucleus was transferred into an egg cell with its own nucleus removed. The team applied Y-CUT to the cloned cells and transferred them to surrogate mothers, which gave birth to healthy, fertile female clones. In other words, the researchers were able to produce both male and female clones from the same donor male. The cloned females carried the exact same genome as the donor male (except for the Y chromosome).<\/p>\n
In a surreal twist, the donor male mouse had the chance to meet its female clones. And it got weirder: The cloned females mated with male clones, producing offspring with regular XX or XY chromosomes. That\u2019s why the researchers say the tool could be useful for rescuing endangered species with a few individuals left\u2014scientists could create fertile breeding pairs using just one male donor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt certainly can have long-term future applications for extreme cases of species revival,\u201d Novak says. Still, as tantalizing as the prospect of cloning a creature out of extinction may be, the method is limited\u2014and not just because it requires at least one male. For example, female rodents carrying XO chromosomes may be fertile, but many other mammals, including horses and humans, can\u2019t reproduce when they have this chromosome combination. It\u2019s possible that supplementing the technique with other elements, such as future technologies that could add an X chromosome to XO embryos, might help overcome this problem.<\/p>\n
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