Perfect conception in humans – myth or reality: scientists told how it is possible

“Virgin birth” or facultative parthenogenesis is common among some animals, including pythons, turkeys, and even flies. But the Daily Mail observed for the first time this week a virgin birth in a female crocodile in Costa Rica, which, despite living alone for a long time, lays fertilized eggs.

Now researchers are wondering whether parthenogenesis is possible in humans and whether the virgin birth of a female crocodile will truly be “the beginning of the end for males.”

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To begin with, virgin birth or parthenogenesis is a rare ability of some animals that allows you to produce offspring without the participation of the opposite sex. This feature is common among fish and reptiles, but researchers still don’t know what makes it possible.

In fact, researchers still don’t know what makes parthenogenesis possible in some animals but not in others, said Professor Russell Bonuryansky, an ecologist at the University of South Wales in Australia. But scientists have some ideas about what it takes to make a virgin birth happen.

A normal cell in the human body contains 46 chromosomes, 23 from the egg and 23 from the sperm. In other animals, the number of chromosomes may vary, but as a rule, half comes from the mother and half from the father. To create a viable embryo without sperm, the egg must replicate its chromosomes to get the “correct” number of chromosomes. It will also need to initiate the fertilization process and develop the embryo.

Considering all these factors, Bonuryansky states that the chance of a virgin birth in humans is about one in a billion, meaning they are literally striving for the impossible. Researchers believe that this inability of humans may also be related to some kind of defense mechanism. In this way, the professor believes, our bodies protect us from the development of eggs into embryos inside the ovaries, which can be fatal to female mammals.

The professor also notes that scientists have already developed ways to alter the development of mammals to allow unfertilized eggs to develop. The most notable example is Dolly the cloned sheep. Bonuryansky notes that cloning is probably possible in humans as well, but its implementation is associated with complex ethical issues.

In the mid-90s, the British Medical Journal recorded about fifty odd “virgin pregnancies” in the United States. They weren’t looking for evidence of virgin birth in humans, but stumbled upon these facts by chance, according to Professor Amy Herring of the Gillings School of Global Public Health in North Carolina.

During the study, the researchers examined the virginity relationship in adulthood. They found that some buyers claimed to be virgins and also pregnant. Of the 7,870 women who got pregnant without having sex, 0.8% said they did not use birth-assisted technology to help them during their pregnancy. However, the researchers note that these data have not been medically verified and therefore cannot be considered reliable.

According to Professor Jenny Graves of La Trobe University in Australia, the real problem is that while parthenogenesis is a good solution in the short run, it always loses in the long run. The truth is, recombining two genes each generation is a great way to mix up the protein combinations that pathogens see – as a result, the risk of developing disease increases.

Previously Focus He wrote that scientists have discovered that crocodiles give birth to virgins.