Kaguya was a
mouse that had two parents of the same sex
(). She was named after a Japanese folk tale, in which the Moon-born princess Kaguya (
Kaguya-hime
is a (fictional prose narrative) containing elements of Japanese folklore. Written by an unknown author in the late 9th or early 10th century during the Heian period, it is considered the oldest surviving work in the form.
The story detail ...
) is found as a baby inside a bamboo stalk.
The process of parthenogenesis
A process called
haploidisation is used to remove one of the two sets of
chromosomes
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...
from some cells, leaving them with only one, just like normal
gamete
A gamete (; , ultimately ) is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. In species that produce ...
s. The researchers led by
Tomohiro Kono
Tomohiro is a masculine Japanese given name.
Possible writings
Tomohiro can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples:
*友弘, "friend, vast"
*友広, "friend, wide"
*友寛, "friend, generosity"
*友博, ...
at the
Tokyo University of Agriculture
The , abbreviated as Nodai (農大, ''nōdai'') or Tokyo nodai (東京農大, ''Tōkyō nōdai''), is a private university of agriculture in Japan.
There are three campuses: Setagaya, Atsugi, and Okhotsk (Abashiri).
Outline
Tokyo University ...
used cells from two different female mice and combined them to make a single unique animal. Normally this would not be possible due to
genetic imprinting requiring genes inherited from the father for normal placental development. They were able to succeed by using one egg from an immature parent, thus reducing maternal imprinting, and modifying it to express the gene ''
Igf2
Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2) is one of three protein hormones that share structural similarity to insulin. The MeSH definition reads: "A well-characterized neutral peptide believed to be secreted by the liver and to circulate in the blo ...
'', which is normally only expressed by the paternal copy of the gene. Even with this, only two of 457 eggs developed to maturity.
Not a clone
This is not a
cloned animal because cells from two individuals were used. The research refers to the process as
parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and developmen ...
. "The goal of our study was to discover why sperm and eggs were required for development in mammals", Kono said.
Kaguya the mouse later gave birth to conventionally fathered offspring.
References
{{reflist
External links
''NewScientist'' story on Kaguya
Individual mice
Individual animals in Japan
Laboratory mice