> could we ever "ever" is pretty open-ended. In principle, it's possible. The most obvious problem is that if the maternal genes include any that are homozyg

> could we ever "ever" is pretty open-ended. In principle, it's possible. The most obvious problem is that if the maternal genes include any that are homozygous lethal or homozygous impaired, the embryo is also a no-go. This is in principle fixable using genetic editing using known techniques. The more subtle biggest obstacles that I can think of of the top of my head is DNA methylation-related defects. If you are interested in a "quick soundbite example" of why this is important, I recommend reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prader%E2%80%93Willi_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prader%E2%80%93Willi_syndrome (note the 25% of cases when this is what happens when there are by bad luck two maternal copies - and zero paternal copies - of ONE chromosome, similarly Angelman's syndrome); all chromosomes -- or any other chromosome, it appears -- is embryonic lethal in humans. The underlying mechanism is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genomic_imprinting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genomic_imprinting There is not any known way to effectively edit DNA methylation. It doesn't take star-trek level phlebotonium to get there (it's physically possible, just not with current levels of tech).