drial DNA. These diseases are incurable. Children tend to inherit half of the genes from their mother and half from their father. However, mitochondrial DNA is passed down from only the mother.Scientists at Newcastle University believe they have found a way to eliminate the possibility of a child inheriting diseases from mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is stored within the nucleus of the egg. Scientists would take the egg of the mother, whose has the possibility of transferring a disease to the child, and replace its nucleus with a healthy nucleus from a donor egg. The egg will then be fertilized by the father's sperm and implanted back into the mother. Scientists believe that they can completely stop the transmission of these diseases in one generation. This process would mean that the child would have DNA from three individuals; the mother, father, and the mitochondrial DNA of the donor.
So far this procedure has only been used on mice and monkeys with great success. Obviously this discovery has gained the attention of many ethical groups that are against embryonic research. Researchers are waiting for approval to begin human trials.
This is a very interesting proposal to a possible solution to genetic diseases. I do not believe, however, that this is something that will be easily accepted or understood worldwide. From what I understand each egg that has the possibility of contributing to a genetic disease in the offspring it produces will be tampered with. This poses the threat of altering an egg that would produced an offspring with no genetic disease at all. Overall, although this sounds quite interesting, I am not sure it will go over too well in our society.
ReplyDeleteI think that it can be used in a great way to prevent genetic disease, but I think it might not become a mainstream solution because of ethical issues. Babies having DNA from 3 parents is definitely radical but a good idea with a positive outcome. It is interesting when you think about genetics and evolution. Babies having DNA from 3 parents may create more genetic diversity which will alter our natural progression of evolution.
ReplyDeleteThis research seems to benefit the health of the child. However, the DNA, which is found within the nucleus, is given to the child from a donor. Because genetics is passed down through generations, health history is based off of biological parents of the child. If this donor egg has an unknown identity, there is the risk that because of the lack of knowledge of health history, the child may be at risk for health problems that the parents do not have and have no history of through generations. This seems to have many positive benefits by eliminating severe DNA mutations, but other health risks that may not be as serious, may still occur without any knowledge of it. Cancer is developed by the individual, but the risk may be greater with someone else's DNA.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the prediction of this beginning in 3 years is too soon. Maybe it will be possible but I believe that people are going to have a hard time accepting the idea of their child having a strangers DNA. I believe that overall the idea of this procedure is to benefit the offspring but like someone else already commented, other health risks my still occur without any knowledge and it is possible that some of these health risks, such as cancer, could be worse.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting and something completely different that people may have a problem getting use to in the beginning stages. However, the third donor would have to go through thorough testing because even the donor is healthy for now having muscular dystrophy, ataxia and other genetic disorders, they may other problems that might not be apparent in the beginning. While researchers may have "cured" one disorder for the offspring, the offspring will still susceptible to other disorders through the donor. I believe this a great idea, but it needs to be tested further to insure its safety for child of other diseases and disorders the child could be exposed to.
ReplyDeleteI think you have misrepresented the science in this post. The egg would come from a donor female that did not have the mitochondrial disease. The nucleus would be from the "mother" and "father". The mitochondrial DNA would be from the donor.
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