The Mexican mitochondrial fiasco
Dr John Zhang's team have opened a new door in terms of reproductive possibilities, but they may very well be instrumental in closing the assisted reproductive door for many people in Mexico...
BioNews
Mitochondrial inheritance
Unusual patterns of inheritance related to mutations in genes found in the mitochondria. Mitochondrial DNA is always maternally inherited, since sperm contribute no mitochondria when they fertilise the egg.
70 articles
Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA mismatch may impact ageing
The interaction between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA may have implications for health, metabolism and ageing, according to a new study...
Video Review: What If My Neighbour's Kid Was Genetically Modified?
Paul Knoepfler's TEDx talk covers familiar ground — designer babies, segregation between 'natural' and GM children, unintended side effects, playing god, and eugenics all feature in his dystopian vision of a future involving genetically modified humans...
Sperm self-destruction may lie behind maternal mitochondrial inheritance
Researchers have identified a gene that, when activated, causes mitochondria inherited from sperm to be destroyed shortly after fertilisation...
Stem cell study suggests mitochondrial donation might not be 100 percent effective
A study has identified a potential problem with mitochondrial donation, an IVF technique that aims to prevent the transmission of faulty mitochondria from mother to child...
Mitochondrial replacement techniques: US-style
The US NAS has published a report on the ethical, social and policy considerations relating to mitochondrial replacement techniques. The recommendation that has inevitably attracted most attention, however, is that only male embryos should be transferred, an approach that was considered but rejected in the UK...
Three-person IVF: What makes mitochondrial donation different?
We report from the second session of the annual conference of the Progress Educational Trust, titled 'From Three-Person IVF to Genome Editing: the Science and the Ethics of Engineering the Embryo', about the newly legalised process of mitochondrial donation...
Image by the University of Edinburgh via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts cells with organelles (colour-enhanced electron micrograph of cells, showing nuclei in green and mitochondria in red).
UK mitochondrial donation regulations introduced
Regulations that came into force this week will enable the UK to be the first country in the world to allow the use of mitochondrial donation techniques during IVF...
Cutting-edge technology and mitochondrial diseases - where is the limit?
Given the complexity of the technology, costs and risks involved, two recently described mitochondrial 'gene-correction' strategies will probably remain as proof-of-concept studies and are unlikely be of practical use in clinical medicine in the foreseeable future...
Stem cells could treat mitochondrial disease
Scientists in the USA have demonstrated how stem cell techniques may benefit people with incurable mitochondrial diseases. The research suggests it might be possible one day to replace diseased tissue in patients affected by the disorders...