Baby with 3 DNA Origins?

 

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.

A Baby Was Born With DNA From 3 People

A technique where the mother's DNA is removed from her egg and then placed inside a donor egg from another woman is called maternal spindle transfer. The egg is then fertilized and evolves into an embryo and is then transferred for pregnancy. A woman who had many failed cycles of IVF was able to give birth to a healthy baby boy, with this technique. According to Dr. Jonathon Tilly, mitochondria plays a key role with the development of embryos and fertilization. An abundance of data gathered suggests that people who have an infertility/ poor egg and embryo condition have mitochondrial dysfunction or deficiency.

I think this is a very interesting topic, many times infertility is blamed on other things such as birth control (which have no proven side affects of this), but a mitochondrial dysfunction/ deficiency makes sense. I also think it is great that there have been successful cases with the spindle transfer technique. I hope this can help many women in the future who have trouble with infertility and seek to have children.



https://time.com/5569057/three-parent-baby-dna/

Related Article:
https://www.newsweek.com/assisted-reproduction-ivf-maternal-spindle-transfer-three-parent-babies-1302044

A Procedure Allowed a Baby to be Born with the DNA of 3 Different People

On April 9th, 2019, a healthy baby boy was born to a woman who previously went through several failed rounds of IVF treatment. This woman was finally able to get pregnant thanks to a technique called maternal spindle transfer. The news was announced by researchers at the Institute of Life in Athens, Greece, where the woman is a participant in a study they are conducting. The technology used was developed by Embryotools, a company partnered with the Institute of Life on this study.


In this procedure, the nuclear DNA from a woman’s egg is placed into a donor’s egg that has been emptied of its nuclear DNA. The modified egg is then fertilized, and the subsequent embryo is placed into the woman who is trying to become pregnant. Aside from the small amount of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from the donor’s egg, the resulting child of the fertility procedure is biologically the offspring of the mother and father. Nevertheless, this child is unlike all others in that it carries the DNA of three separate individuals.


For this woman, something within her eggs was preventing the development of viable embryos. There are very many factors that could have been the cause, from deficiencies in essential products to poor quality of the eggs. Maternal spindle transfer and fertility techniques like it make it possibly for women with many unsuccessful IVF treatments or mitochondrial genetic diseases to be able to have healthy children.


Interestingly, this baby was the first ever born by maternal spindle transfer whose mother did not have a mitochondrial disease. While she didn’t have such a disease, she was still unable to get pregnant in the past due to reasons still unknown. Once she underwent the procedure – which replaced her mtDNA and egg – however, an embryo was able to form properly. For researchers such as Dr. Jonathan Tilly of Northeastern University, the fact that this technique worked in the case of this woman points to the idea that mitochondria may be more important in human reproduction and the application of fertility treatments than was previously thought.


Tilly and others will continue to conduct research to hopefully begin to understand what the successful conditions were within the donor egg that were apparently inadequate in the new mother’s eggs. They will also try to discover what the long-term effects could be for children born as a result of procedures that insert an additional individual’s genetic material into their genome.

A Baby Born with DNA from Three People

TIME recently published an article about the success of maternal spindle transfer and how the technique may change reproductive medicine. Maternal spindle transfer was used by researchers at the Institute of Life in Athens, Greece to help develop an embryo for a woman who had experienced four failed cycles of IVF.  The technique of maternal spindle transfer involves removing the grouped DNA from the mother’s egg and implanting it into a donor egg which has had its DNA removed. After the mother’s DNA has been transplanted into the donor egg, the egg is fertilized and developed into an embryo. This technique allows researchers to avoid issues with the mother’s egg that were preventing the formation of a viable embryo. Researchers believe that donor mitochondria are one of the reasons maternal spindle transfer has been successful. Recent research has shown that mitochondria play a large role in reproduction, especially with fertilization and growth of embryos in older women. Maternal spindle transfer has been used in the Ukraine to help women with mitochondrial diseases start families, however, this is the first time the technique has been used on a woman with no known mitochondrial issues. Researchers at the Institute of Health do not see maternal spindle transfer becoming the newest trend in assisted reproductive technology (ART). It is more likely that this technique will be used to help researchers learn what goes wrong in an egg as a woman ages and what steps can be done to reverse these changes. 

While this technique may be able to help some start a family, there are some ethical dilemmas that need to be worked through for this method. This technique is very new and there is not enough research available to understand if there will be lasting consequences or side effects from introducing a third set of DNA into an embryo. While the baby was born healthy, will he face medical issues later in life because of how he was conceived? Also, all of this research has been conducted in Europe because it would be considered illegal in the U.S. United States law prohibits altering the genetic makeup of an embryo. Between the development of CRISPR, gene editing, and techniques like maternal spindle transfer, the United States government needs to reevaluate its policies and adjust them for the technologic advancements that have been made. Personally, I am opposed to allowing maternal spindle transfer here in the U.S. I feel that the lack of research and unknown consequences justify stopping research on this method.