World's first baby born using DNA from three parents read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1038-world-s-first-baby-born-using-dna-from-three-parents
The world's first baby using a controversial new technique employed by US scientists to include DNA from three parents in the embryo has been born.
According to the New Scientist reports, the baby boy was born five months ago in Mexico to Jordanian parents, and is healthy and doing well.
The boy’s mother carries genes for Leigh syndrome, a fatal disorder that affects the developing nervous system. Genes for the disease reside in DNA in the mitochondria, which provide energy for our cells and carry just 37 genes that are passed down to us from our mothers.
[Image Credits: BBC]
The controversial technique, which allows parents with rare genetic mutations to have healthy babies, has only been legally approved in the UK. Experts say the move heralds a new era in medicine and could help other families with rare genetic conditions.
Zhang’s team used this approach to create five embryos, only one of which developed normally. This embryo was implanted in the mother and the child was born nine months later. “It’s exciting news,” says Bert Smeets at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
When Zhang and his colleagues tested the boy’s mitochondria, they found that less than 1 per cent carry the mutation. Hopefully, this is too low to cause any problems; generally it is thought to take around 18 per cent of mitochondria to be affected before problems start. “It’s very good,” says Ilic.
The team will describe the findings at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s Scientific Congress in Salt Lake City in October.
Comments
Post a Comment