Men: The Next Endangered Species?

Men, have you recently had one of those feelings that something was not exactly right? A sense of impending doom? An uneasiness with the state of the world? While it was not exactly front-page news, an article by Nick Lane in the June 7^th issue of New Scientist (One Baby, Two Moms) should have all men worried. Lane’s article has to do with the generation of a embryonic cell that is basically a hybrid of three parents. The purpose was to transfer mitochondria from one cell to another to potentially prevent disease. The implications for men in general may be much more severe.

Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells. These small internal compartments are where your body converts food, usually carbohydrates, into the energy that runs all cellular processes. They use lots of oxygen in the process. In fact, if it wasn’t for mitochondria, the oxygen that you breathe would be lethal.

Mitochondria are interesting for several other reasons. One is the fact that they really don’t belong to us. If you take a good look at the genetics of the mitochondria you will quickly discover that they closely resemble those of the bacteria. The mitochondrial chromosome is circular, just like those of a bacterium, and the structure of the genes on the chromosome is very similar as well. Creationists absolutely hate mitochondria since they provide strong evidence of a major evolutionary event (over 600 million years ago) in the formation of modern cells. Each of our cells contains the remnants of a bacterial infestation hundreds of millions of years ago. But that fact has very little to do with the extinction of males.

What is more important is that we get our mitochondria from our mother. When a sperm cell fertilizes an egg, only the mitochondria in the egg survive. Thus, the mitochondria in my cells are all derived from my mother, who in turn got them from her mother, etc, etc. In fact, our mitochondria provide a history of our heritage. (For excellent coverage of this topic, read Brian Sykes book The Seven Daughters of Eve). But there is a flaw in this process. If there is a defect in a woman’s mitochondria, then she will pass that defect on to her offspring. Since the male doesn’t contribute mitochondria, then there is no chance of getting a “normal” mitochondria from the male. Mitochondria disorders are associated with a number of neurological disorders. Women with a history of these disorders have always been concerned about reproduction.

To bypass this problem, scientists have recently developed a procedure to produce embryos from three parents – two females and one male. This process allows a woman with a known mitochondrial disorder to produce a healthy embryo by using her DNA, mitochondria from another woman, and DNA from a man. The result is a child with the same genetic make-up as would be produced by any normal fertilization event between a man and a woman, but minus the mitochondrial disorder.

Sounds good right? Well, what this has done is place us one step closer to the ability to combine two eggs to produce an embryo. And once that happens men, there will be little reason to keep us around anymore.

Females reproducing without males is nothing new to the animal world. There are several species can either reproduce without males (called parthenogenesis). But until recently, it appeared that males were absolutely necessary for reproduction in mammals. There are several important genetic reasons for this, and the information in Nick Lane’s article does not necessarily indicate that men are doomed – yet. But it does indicate that scientists have overcome another hurdle in their ability to manipulate cells. Soon, perhaps sooner than we think, it will be possible to merge two eggs to form a zygote.

With the news being presented in this article, men are one step closer to joining the dodo bird and passenger pigeons. Author Bryan Sykes has already foretold this in another of his books - Adam’s Curse: A Future Without Men. This should be required reading for all men. For now we are one step closer to that reality. And if the guy at the top of this post is an endangered species…..men in general are doomed.