UNITED KINGDOM
British Lower House of Parliament Approves a Radical Embryo Formation Measure
In a landmark move, Britain's lower house of parliament, House of Commons, on February 3, 2015 approved a measure by 382-178 vote to issue licenses to conduct experiments to create embryo from DNA of three people. The measure now goes to House of Lords, or the upper chamber, that's most likely to follow suit as it hardly goes against the will of popularly elected representatives. Critics called the measure as the stepping-stone of creating so-called "designer babies".
* How it will work?
This technique will help women with mitochondrial diseases such as muscular dystrophy to minimize the possibility of genetically transferring the disease to their children. Under the experiment, the nucleus of the DNA will be removed from the mother's egg and inserted into the DNA of a donor egg that has its nucleus already removed. As a result, the mitochondria, energy-producing structure surrounding nucleus, will come from donor. More than 99 percent of the DNA in the child will come from parents, leaving less than 1 percent coming from the donor.
British Upper House of Parliament Approves the Embryo Measure
Three weeks after a historic move by the House of Commons to approve a measure that would allow creating an embryo from DNA of three individuals, the upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords, approved the measure on February 24, 2015.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Institute of Medicine Calls the Research on Baby from Three Parents Ethical
In a report requested by Food and Drug Administration, Institute of Medicine said on February 3, 2016 that a restrained and regulated research into birth from three genetic parents would be ethical. Under the Institute's guideline, pregnant women with high risk of passing severe genetic diseases are to be targeted and only male embryos are to be implanted. The reason for this cautionary step is multi-fold. There are two kinds of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid): Nuclear DNA (inside nucleus of a cell) and Mitochondrial DNA (outside the nucleus). Both father and mother pass traits related to Nuclear DNA to offspring, but only mother passes the traits related to Mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA encodes a mere 37 genes, but defects may lead to lack of enough energy, yielding a plethora of genetic diseases such as blindness, seizures, muscle degeneration and developmental disorders.
First Baby Born with DNA from Three People
In the first of its kind, a baby was born with the DNA from father, mother and a donor. The Associated Press reported on September 27, 2016 that a Jordanian parent had the joy of their baby born five months ago in Mexico with the help from a medical team led by Dr. John Zang of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York. The Jordanian mother gave birth to two previous babies who had died of a genetic disorder at the age of 8 months and 6 years, respectively. This time, nuclear DNA was taken from the mother's egg and inserted into a donor's egg. Then the donor's egg was fertilized. The baby born carries traits from father, mother and the donor from whom the baby has inherited a small, but healthy, dose of mitochondrial DNA.
British Lower House of Parliament Approves a Radical Embryo Formation Measure
In a landmark move, Britain's lower house of parliament, House of Commons, on February 3, 2015 approved a measure by 382-178 vote to issue licenses to conduct experiments to create embryo from DNA of three people. The measure now goes to House of Lords, or the upper chamber, that's most likely to follow suit as it hardly goes against the will of popularly elected representatives. Critics called the measure as the stepping-stone of creating so-called "designer babies".
* How it will work?
This technique will help women with mitochondrial diseases such as muscular dystrophy to minimize the possibility of genetically transferring the disease to their children. Under the experiment, the nucleus of the DNA will be removed from the mother's egg and inserted into the DNA of a donor egg that has its nucleus already removed. As a result, the mitochondria, energy-producing structure surrounding nucleus, will come from donor. More than 99 percent of the DNA in the child will come from parents, leaving less than 1 percent coming from the donor.
British Upper House of Parliament Approves the Embryo Measure
Three weeks after a historic move by the House of Commons to approve a measure that would allow creating an embryo from DNA of three individuals, the upper chamber of parliament, the House of Lords, approved the measure on February 24, 2015.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Institute of Medicine Calls the Research on Baby from Three Parents Ethical
In a report requested by Food and Drug Administration, Institute of Medicine said on February 3, 2016 that a restrained and regulated research into birth from three genetic parents would be ethical. Under the Institute's guideline, pregnant women with high risk of passing severe genetic diseases are to be targeted and only male embryos are to be implanted. The reason for this cautionary step is multi-fold. There are two kinds of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid): Nuclear DNA (inside nucleus of a cell) and Mitochondrial DNA (outside the nucleus). Both father and mother pass traits related to Nuclear DNA to offspring, but only mother passes the traits related to Mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA encodes a mere 37 genes, but defects may lead to lack of enough energy, yielding a plethora of genetic diseases such as blindness, seizures, muscle degeneration and developmental disorders.
First Baby Born with DNA from Three People
In the first of its kind, a baby was born with the DNA from father, mother and a donor. The Associated Press reported on September 27, 2016 that a Jordanian parent had the joy of their baby born five months ago in Mexico with the help from a medical team led by Dr. John Zang of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York. The Jordanian mother gave birth to two previous babies who had died of a genetic disorder at the age of 8 months and 6 years, respectively. This time, nuclear DNA was taken from the mother's egg and inserted into a donor's egg. Then the donor's egg was fertilized. The baby born carries traits from father, mother and the donor from whom the baby has inherited a small, but healthy, dose of mitochondrial DNA.
