It seems that we have lived to see a real breakthrough, which may soon affect our lives, because thanks to a special technique of semen separation, scientists managed to grow mice of their choice.

Only a few decades ago, parents had to wait until the birth of their child to find out about his sex, then ultrasound came into action, which significantly shortened the time of uncertainty, and now ... maybe in some time we will be able to choose the toddler's sex before conceiving!

We have just got a breakthrough in the field of genetics, all thanks to Japanese researchers who have managed to develop a method that allows you to select the sex of the entire litter of mice before.

The Japanese want to destroy space debris using a plasma gun

The research took place at Hiroshima University, where scientists did everything to find biomarkers that would be able to distinguish X chromosomes from Y chromosomes that are transmitted by sperm and are responsible for the offspring of female and male in turn. Similar attempts to distinguish them before conception have been made before, but only the latest work has advanced this issue. Analyzes in mice show that the X chromosome carries more genes than the Y chromosome, and researchers have identified around 500 that were active and unique to the semen carrying the former and absent in the latter.

Then, out of these 500, 18 were identified that can affect receptors in such a way as to impair the mobility of the semen carrying female DNA - and this allows chemical procedures targeted at such receptors that successfully inhibit the ability of sperm to move. After applying this technique to the sperm of mice, semen traveling at different rates was successfully obtained, and as a result, the X-chromosome bearing sperm was separated from the Y-chromosome sperm.

When the faster group was used for fertilization, the litter was 90% male, and the selection of the slower group resulted in 81% female litter. Of course, it is still far from ideal, or a certain gender selection, but this is a significant advance over the traditional either boy or girl.

Scientists, however, ensure that the work will continue because, in the context of the rapid climate change, the sex selection of offspring will be crucial, especially for farm animals, not humans - for example, male cows provide more meat than female ones. Either way, innovative methods are expensive, and carry the risk of DNA damage, but scientists are sure that one day they will be safe and accessible to people.

We have shared thousands of news with our followers. But this is one of the most interesting ones ever. Right? As we mentioned above, a few decades ago we had to wait and see the child’s gender when he/she comes to our life. Later, technology has changed our planet, and now we have special systems to watch our babies whenever we want. What about choosing the baby’s sex? Can you imagine?