Pseudopregnant mice play important roles in the production and rederivation of mouse strains; they are used for embryo transfer and serve as surrogate mothers to the genetically modified pups coming into the world. Those females, however, can’t get into that pseudopregnant state alone, but to prevent any actual pregnancy from mating encounters, the males involved need to be sterile. That can be accomplished via vasectomy – a surgical procedure with the potential for pain and discomfort – or the use of mice genetically modified (GM) to lack pup-making potential; making these mice, however, involves intermediate generations, and females, that won’t be used.
A new research article from Chris Preece, Samy Alghadban, and colleagues in Benjamin Davies’ lab at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics presents a third option, one that avoids surgeries and unneeded GM animals: the use of naturally sterile hybrid males.
