Two-Father Babies Could Soon Be Possible, With No Egg Donor Required

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When two men wish to raise a child together, they must either adopt (where neither of them will have a biological contribution) or use an egg donor and surrogate (where only one of them will make a biological contribution). In the future, that might not be the case. A new paper published in Cell describes the role of genetic regulators which influence whether an immature germ cell differentiates into a male or female cell, and how that process can be manipulated. In the future, it could even be possible for stem cells from a male to be used to produce an egg, allowing an infant to have two biological fathers.

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This could occur by taking PGCs from one father, manipulating SOX17 and inducing those cells to become oocytes. Because the male has all of the relevant maternal information on his one copy of the X chromosome, the resulting egg cell would theoretically be fully functional. The second father would then need to provide a sperm sample with which to inseminate the egg, though a surrogate would be required to carry the baby throughout gestation.

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