Sex by Centrifuge

The moon has nothing to do with the sex of a chicken that comes out of the egg. Farmers' wives may still think so, but biologists know better. It is a chromosome that does the business, whether the offspring is a fruit fly's or a man's. To predetermine sex, control the chromosome. In the Journal of Heredity, organ of the American Genetic Association, Princeton Biologist E. Newton Harvey has a way.

In the repoduction of mammals, roughly half of a male's sperm contains X chromosomes which produce female offspring, and half contains Y chromosomes, producing males. Whether the offspring is male or female is determined by which kind of sperm unites with a female's egg. If scientists could separate the male-and female-producing spem, sex control would be easy.

Harvey reasoned that since female-producing sperm seems to contain slightly more chromatin (chromosome material), it must be slightly heavier. The problem, therefore, is to separate "biological isotopes." Harvey, citing a centrifuge method which has separated the light and heavy parts of sea urchins' eggs, thinks it can be done. His proposal: use a special centrifuge to whirl the sperm; the lighter male-producing sperm will rise to the top, can be skimmed off and planted by artificial insemination.

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