Question
asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answers by Lord Darzi of Denham on 19 May (WA 159–160), whether the use of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) would overcome incompatibilities between proteins on the sperm and on either the zona pellucida or on the membrane of the egg; whether differences in the number of chromosomes always prevent interspecies hybridisation yielding viable progeny; and, if not, which species combinations might form embryos or foetuses or be viable.
Answer
Intracytoplasmic injection of a human sperm into an animal egg would constitute the creation of a human admixed embryo under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill and such an activity would require a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. The Bill prohibits the implantation of human admixed embryos into a woman or an animal. Successful hybridisation is dependent on the extent of chromosomal rearrangement. In very closely related species, differences in the number of chromosomes does not always prevent successful hybridisation.