If not parthenogenesis why not “In Vivo Embryogenesis” with Mary as a birth mother

The editorial written by Benagiano and Dallapiccola “Can modern biology interpret the mystery of the birth of Jesus” [1] is both enlightening and bold in attempting to answer a complex issue surrounded by tradition and mystery. The extensive review of literature with reference to mechanisms of gender differentiation in various species is intriguing. I do agree that we should endeavour to break down all the barriers between science and religion and seek to understand the mechanisms behind natural and supernatural phenomenon.

From Edward and Steptoe to Dolly and Polly the cloned sheep and the elucidation of the human genome we have come a long way with what is humanly achievable [2,3]. The field of Assisted Reproductive Technology has given us insights into donor eggs, donor sperms and biological mothers or surrogate/birth mothers. The elucidation of the human genome and techniques of genetic engineering has now taken designer babies out of science fiction into possibilities within the near future.

Our understanding of the events surrounding the conception of Jesus convinces us that Joseph (the “father” of Jesus) had no contribution to make to the genetic make-up of Jesus, and in this editorial Benagiano and Dallapiccola explore the concept of “parthenogenesis” with genetic contribution from Mary (the “mother” of Jesus). Could I dare to postulate that Mary possibly had no genetic contribution to make to the formation of Jesus? Indeed, if a sperm was not needed in the conception of Jesus, why do we strive to understand how an egg could form a conceptus? Benagiano and Dallapiccola quote from the gospel of Luke the “Power of the Most High shall overshadow you” [4] similar to what is stated in Genesis when the spirit of God hovered over the earth in creation [1].

Could Mary have been a surrogate mother of Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit creating an entirely new totipotential cell; a whole new human genome, ready for cell replication and organogenesis? Indeed, Mary is the mother of Jesus; the birth mother of Jesus not necessarily the biological mother. The historic, geographic and the cultural context of the birth of Christ cannot be denied and needed to occur in Bethlehem within the nation of Jews in a time place context. Joseph and Mary brought up the baby Jesus and cared for him till he left home as a carpenter as his adoptive parents.

I postulate further that the first Adam and Eve were created with a perfect set of human genome without any mutations or copy number variants [5]. The onset of mutations, variations in genes, single gene disorders and multifactorial disease inheritance as well as the triggering of the aging gene is likely to have occurred after the cessation of the perfect conditions [6]. I fully concur with Benagiano and Dallapiccola in their disagreement that parthenogenesis is unlikely to have been the pathway that the conception of Christ occurred. I postulate that the mechanism is likely to have been a de novo “In Vivo Embryogenesis”.