Scientists Produced the First Kangaroo Embryos Through IVF. They Could Be Key to Marsupial Conservation in Australia
With continued work in the future, the team hopes to promote live births of endangered marsupial species, including Tasmanian devils, koalas and northern hairy-nosed wombats
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Australian scientists successfully created the world’s first kangaroo embryos through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
A team of researchers at the University of Queensland, led by Andres Gambini, used genetic material from eastern gray kangaroos for the trial. They inserted a single sperm cell into a mature egg in a technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), which has also been used in humans. The team described the feat in a research article in the journal Reproduction, Fertility and Development.
While the gray kangaroos used by the scientists aren’t endangered, many other Australian marsupials are—and the researchers hope their findings can help those at-risk species.
“Our ultimate goal is to support the preservation of endangered marsupial species like koalas, Tasmanian devils, northern hairy-nosed wombats and Leadbeater’s possums,” Gambini says in a statement.
“Because eastern gray kangaroos are overabundant, we collected their eggs and sperm for use as a model to adapt the embryo technologies already applied to domestic animals and humans,” adds Gambini. “We are now refining techniques to collect, culture and preserve marsupial eggs and sperm.”
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John Rodger, a marsupial reproduction expert not involved in the study, tells the Guardian’s Donna Lu that the researchers, “for the first time, with a marsupial, have demonstrated what looks to be really promising progress” in IVF.
The team has created more than 20 eastern gray kangaroo embryos, but because the species is so abundant, they don’t plan to raise them into joeys, reports the Guardian. In the future, though, they hope to be able to freeze marsupial embryos and transfer them to living females. When the mothers give birth, they’ll be “reintroducing those genetics that otherwise will be lost,” Gambini tells the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Stephen Clarke.
This breakthrough matters in Australia, which has one of the worst extinction records in the world. Many of the country’s marsupial species are on the brink of disappearing. The Tasmanian devil, for example, has lost roughly 80 percent of its population in the last 30 years.
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IVF is being used as a potential conservation tool for other species around the world, including for bison and donkeys. Last year, scientists achieved the first rhino pregnancy through IVF, bringing hope for the highly endangered northern white rhino, a subspecies with only two individuals remaining in the world. Researchers in Australia are also attempting to boost endangered frog species with IVF and hormone therapy.
Still, many steps remain before IVF can be widely used with marsupials, as more technical advancements are needed to achieve a live birth. But the team hopes to reach that milestone within a decade. When IVF is combined with other strategies, Gambini says in an email to NBC News’ Astha Rajvanshi, “it can make a real difference for species at risk.”
