This article is from the WSSF 2011 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.
Submitted by Mayumi Anderson, Fresno, CA
Scientists are artificially producing Chimera mice by
mixing stem cells from two different species such as
combining a wood mouse with a house mouse which
showed physiological and behavioral characteristics of
both species, a rat and mouse where a rat pancreas was
created in a mouse, and a rat thymus gland produced in a
mouse, among others. Chimeras are animals that have a
mixture of cells from both donors where a hybrid is the
fusion of gametes (sperm and egg) into one zygote
(beginning of an embryo).