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It depends on the cause of infertility.
If the cause is in the genes themselves, well too bad.
If it's not, or in the case of two men, there's a possibility, but they have to extract gametes directly from the ovaries/testicles, otherwise the chromosomes themselves won't allow it: their ends tend to diminish at each division, so if you take any other cell, the embryo will have the genes of a grown adult, therefore die soon. Just look at Dolly's life, you'll get my point.

2nd problem: Making an egg (with a donated egg) might not be very difficult, and what Chieira mentioned about two mice eggs fertilizing each other looks very credible. But the making of a male gamete requires other cells' proximity, and really looks difficult to do in vitro. Perhaps you can ask your friend about it Chieira.

3e problem: In the mice thing, I suspect they belonged to the same strain, therefore had the same genotype. I doubt it would work this well with two different genotypes. An egg already carries the mRNA of the mother, unlike the spermatozoon, and there is a period after fertilization when the little guy only relies on his mother's mRNAs. His own genes begin to be expressed later. During this critical period, I doubt that more versions of a gene than there should be will have no consequences on the development. Was there any information about it?

Concerning the stem cells, well I doubt that is a solution, for the same reason as above, about the mRNA stuff. A stem cell is already diploid and its cytoplasm doesn't carry the necessary molecules. Donated eggs are the way.

So if the problems I mentioned can be solved, well there's a possibility. Anyway there's still a possibility, even if it works, that the baby's health is weaker than it should be. So try to think about what I said about ethics a little. Would you take the risk to sacrifice the life of a human being? Wouldn't adoption be a safer solution for everyone? Try to imagine you were yourself created that way, wouldn't it feel like you're a guinea pig at the service of your parents' desires?

PS: Don't worry for the hoax, we all fell into that kind of trap ^^

Hey no problem xd I understand... I'm sorry I couldn't stop writing, to be honest I'm studying biology in college as well and I love what I do so... I got a little carried away ya know... sweatdrop and probably my english doesn't help.

But I'd be grateful if you asked her if the article was published somewhere on the Internet, I'd love to have a look. mrgreen

Thanks a lot, but don't make a big deal out of it either ^^ if you can't there's no problem, it's just to satisfy my curiosity! (and you're not a moron, tell me about history and you'll see a real moron)

I did ^^ and I found some other websites talking about the subject.

It was interesting to see how they did it, but there are still some information missing:

- They used 725 eggs, only 13 could reach the stage of blastocyst, at which they're supposed to implant in the uterus. However they didn't implant them in the uterus of a mouse so they don't even know if it can lead to a healthy offspring. What if they did?

- They say it's safer than cloning because two different genomes are used, like a natural impregnation. That just makes no sense. In cloning you just use a single cell, that has recieved genes from both parents, so was made with two different genomes. This has nothing to do with inbreeding.

- They don't say anything about the telomeres, which are the real problem of cloning. Telomeres are the chormosomes' ends, and they grow shorter in somatic cells (non-reproductive cells) as we grow old. In a way their size shows our age, and if they become too short the body dies (to make it simple). Remember Dolly, the cloned sheep? She had a short life and soon got sick because of that. Somatic cells were used to create her, therefore her genes were already as old as her "mothers'" when she was born.
To fertilize the mice egg, they used a somatic cell as well, so the problem of the telomeres is still here... What if they had used two eggs from two different mice instead?

They obviously have not finished the work, and there seems to be a lot to do. I guess the best we can do is wait and see if they eventually answer the remaining questions.

Thanks for asking your friend! 3nodding And I hope I didn't cause you a headache... sweatdrop just got carried away again... but I just had to write that somewhere!

I didn't know about that lizard. Interesting...
But did you know that hens were capable of natural cloning? (lay eggs without fertilization that will lead to chicks that have the very same genotype as their mother) When I heard that I was like eek