The discovery of Japanese scientists from the University of Hiroshima and the technology they developed make it possible to program the sex of the offspring in mammals with a high probability during artificial insemination. University professor Masayuki Shimada told RIA Novosti why a promising discovery in animal husbandry is pointless to apply to humans.
“In animal husbandry, there is a need for the birth of only cows if the farm is dairy, and only bulls if it is a meat production, since they grow faster. Therefore, in animal husbandry there is a clear division - who needs only cows and who needs only bulls. This is where our technology can help,”he said.
“Now we can ensure the birth of bulls or heifers with a 95% probability. For livestock breeders, this is a very simple technology with which they can achieve the birth of livestock of the sex they need, which is a great advantage. At least for Japanese livestock firms, this can be applied very soon,”added Shimada.
He believes that on cows in real conditions in practice, his technology can be applied in three to four years, and on pig farms in three to five years.
In terms of technology, the discovery can be applied to any mammal, including humans. But the professor considers it pointless.
“It is technologically possible, since the principle is the same. But in the case of a person, the probability should be at least 100%, otherwise it makes no sense, because a person, as a rule, has one child in one birth. In mice, pigs, 10-15 cubs are born and the probability of giving birth to offspring of a certain sex within 80-90% is more than sufficient. But with the birth of one child, if the probability of the birth of the desired sex is less than 100%, the whole idea loses its meaning,”he explained.
According to him, there is one more problem: “Let's imagine that, for example, the Japanese wanted to have a boy and in 80% of them only boys were born. Then in two or three generations the Japanese will cease to exist as a nation. That is, there remains an ethical problem. I think there is a big difference between what can be done technically and what society needs."
He noted that he did not set himself the goal of creating a technology for use in humans.
Promotional video:
Research began five years ago. Their goal was not to program sex at all, but to identify differences in the functions of spermatozoa, which carry the Y chromosome and are responsible for the birth of a male, and X-bearing spermatozoa, which are responsible for the birth of female offspring.
“In the process of research, it turned out that a protein that only X-carrying sperm have, can bind to the virus. When we exposed him to a drug that is perceived by the body as a virus - in fact, it is a common antiviral drug - we found that this type of sperm stopped moving. Then they tried to collect only those that continued to move to see what would happen. As a result, only males were born,”said Simada.