RE: The last male Northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) in the world is serious ill, and could die very soon, leaving no males of this subspecies alive

[valth]

pardon me for my ignorance i have a question by using host species as surrogates, if there is any possibility of changing genes of new birth?

That's a good question. Essentially there are two ways to do this:

1. You already have both the egg and sperm from your animals and use a host womb. In this way you will get to keep 100 % of the original DNA.
2. You only have sperm, and use this to impregnate a host species. By doing this you get a hybrid with 50 % genes from each species.

For the northern white rhino the scientists have both eggs and sperm, so they will get pure offspring. But it is actually a lot more common to only have sperm (since this is mostly always present in animals, while the eggs need a certain condition to be pristine), so option #2 is usually the one that will be used, especially for extinct animals.

Comments

[kamchore]

Thanks for clarification @valth so impact of blood of surrogate doesn't affect on the genes of new birth. I mean to say a new birth needs blood for his/her growth in womb. Is there any impact of this blood on genes?

[valth]

That's right; there is no direct transfer of genes from the blood of the host to the offspring. All the genes are determined the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg.

[kamchore]

Thanks for the clarification @valth

[valth]

No problem! I'm always happy to share my knowledge of biology ;)