Toddler's body part father-free

By Susan Milius

WASHINGTON (UPI): Scientists at the University of Edinburgh said Thursday they have found what may be the first documented case of a partially father-free human, a little boy with some body tissues that contain no genes from a man.

The little boy, whose name is not released, does have genes from his father, but not throughout his whole body, according to Lisa Strain, David Bonthon and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh.

They described their genetic analysis of the child in the new issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

Scientists have shown that an embryo needs genes from both mother and father to develop normally, said Azim Surani, from the University of Cambridge. Certain genes, called "imprinted," will turn on only if they come from a certain parent. The other parent's genetic contribution may include the same genes but they are essentially useless.

In mice, scientists have found that when an egg that starts to develop without receiving any genes from sperm, the embryo falters and naturally aborts.

However, if the father-free, or parthenogenic, embryo fuses with a normal one, the combination can develop into a real mouse.

"The normal cells will rescue some of the parthenogenetic cells," said Surani.

Scientists had mused that something similar might happen in humans, but had never observed a case. The genetic analysis of the little boy is "a very novel finding," Surani told United Press International.

The boy himself, as seen in photographs at 14 months of age, looked much like any other chubby-cheeked, big-eyed toddler when viewed from the right profile. The left side of his face, however, bulged here and there, suggesting that the father-free cells were not able to follow the usual developmental paths.

He was brought to the doctors first as a case of apparent sex reversal. He looks male, although his blood type registered as female when sampled as a newborn.