Scientists have devised a way to make human eggs behave as if they have been fertilised - without using sperm. The team from Wales College of Medicine at Cardiff University say this could provide a more ethically acceptable way of creating ‘embryonic’ stem cells. The ‘embryos’ do not contain any paternal chromosomes, so could not develop into a baby. The process, described in New Scientist, uses an enzyme found in sperm to prompt the egg to divide. The researchers say the enzyme could also be used to help couples unable to have children because the man’s sperm has too little of this key protein - called PLC-zeta. PLC-zeta, phospholipase C-zeta, is produced by sperm, and plays a key role in activate the egg, allowing it to be fertilised. The researchers called the enzyme “the spark of life”.
