Monday, November 23, 2020

Baby with 3 DNA Origins?

 

New Studies: Frozen Embryos Not Always Necessary for IVF | Fortune
https://time.com/5569057/three-parent-baby-dna/
https://mitochondrialtransfer.wordpress.com/the-logistics/mitochondrial-replacement/maternal-spindle-transfer/

We all know that a mother and father are the two sources of genetic material that an embryo develops from to become a functioning, healthy human baby. However, in some cases the mother has problems with reproduction either functionally or genetically. So, other means of conception have been established in order to help these cases. One of the alternatives to natural reproduction is something called maternal spindle transfer. To explain this simply, the genetic material of the mother's egg is removed and placed into an egg of a donor which has its genetic material removed and discarded. After the genetic material has been transplanted, the egg is fertilized and the embryo is transferred back to the mother for proper development. This is done because the mother has mutations in her mitochondria that inhibit proper development, so the donor egg is used for its correct mitochondrial characteristics in regards of reproductive development. How does this all relate to a baby that was found with 3 different types of DNA you may ask. Well, mitochondria has its own DNA separate of the nucleic DNA, and with this procedure the mitochondria also has transferred into the embryo. The three different DNA's that were found were the mother's, the father's, and the donor's DNA.
I think this is fantastic. I feel that it is the right thing to do morally to help out someone that cannot bring life into this world on their own, but still want to have their own children. This is only one technique used for woman who have reproductive issues, and there are several more to meet the standards of whomever needs a procedure like this done.

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