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PETBioNewsNewsBabies born with three 'parents'

BioNews

Babies born with three 'parents'

Published 9 June 2009 posted in News and appears in BioNews 106

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BioNews

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.

Scientists in the US have announced that babies have been born carrying the DNA of three parents: two women and a man. The babies were the result of a controversial program using ooplasmic transplantation - effectively adding cytoplasm from a donor woman's egg to that surrounding the nucleus of an infertile...

Scientists in the US have announced that babies have been born carrying the DNA of three parents: two women and a man. The babies were the result of a controversial program using ooplasmic transplantation - effectively adding cytoplasm from a donor woman's egg to that surrounding the nucleus of an infertile woman's egg.


The technique was designed to increase success levels of IVF treatment in older women by introducing mitochondria - the powerhouses of cells - from the cytoplasm of the eggs of younger women. The actual genetic information of the mother will not be changed, but because mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) carries its own genetic information, it has been reported that, technically, the babies have three parents.


The introduction of mtDNA has also caused concern because the 'mixture of genes' will be inheritable - the genetic information contained in the mitochondria will be passed down the maternal line to future generations.


The cytoplasmic transplantation technique is banned in many countries because of concerns about genetic implications and ethical and moral concerns, and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has decided not to license it in this country. But it has been claimed by a team led by Dr Jacques Cohen, from the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of St Barnabas in New Jersey, that in recent years about 30 children worldwide have been born using the technique. Fifteen of the babies have been born following treatment at the Institute.


The technique has been criticised by an editorial in Science, which warned that it is naive to assume that mtDNA does not affect the wider workings of the human body. The HFEA called it an unwelcome development that 'adds additional concern to their existing worries'.

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Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
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Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
CC BY 4.0
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Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
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9 June 2009 • 3 minutes read

UK scientists apply for 'three parent embryo' licence

by BioNews

Scientists at the University of Newcastle are applying for a licence to create embryos with 'three parents', in order to prevent genetic conditions caused by faults in the 'powerhouses' of the cell. Doug Turnbull and Mary Herbert have submitted an application to the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which...

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