Libertarian_Guard
17th April 2010, 07:35 PM
DNA swap offers route to disease-free babies
British scientists have mastered a controversial artificial reproduction technique that could prevent incurable inherited diseases by swapping DNA between two fertilised human eggs.
Lead researcher Professor Doug Turnbull of Newcastle University says he hopes the first babies free from mitochondrial diseases will be born within three years.
But applying the technique in the clinic to help women at risk of passing on the disorders will require a change in British law that currently bans reproduction from such manipulated embryos.
About one in 6,500 children are born with serious diseases caused by malfunctioning mitochondrial DNA, leading to a range of conditions that can include fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular weakness.
The Newcastle team's technique effectively replaces mitochondria, which generate energy inside cells, so a baby does not inherit faults from its mother.
Mitochondria are only passed down the maternal line.
"What we've done is like changing the battery on a laptop. The energy supply now works properly, but none of the information on the hard drive has been changed," Professor Turnbull said.
"A child born using this method would have correctly functioning mitochondria, but in every other respect would get all their genetic information from their father and mother."
Within a day of fertilisation, using in vitro fertilisation, nuclear DNA is removed from the embryo and implanted into a donor egg, whose own genetic material has been removed and discarded.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/15/2873162.htm?section=justin
British scientists have mastered a controversial artificial reproduction technique that could prevent incurable inherited diseases by swapping DNA between two fertilised human eggs.
Lead researcher Professor Doug Turnbull of Newcastle University says he hopes the first babies free from mitochondrial diseases will be born within three years.
But applying the technique in the clinic to help women at risk of passing on the disorders will require a change in British law that currently bans reproduction from such manipulated embryos.
About one in 6,500 children are born with serious diseases caused by malfunctioning mitochondrial DNA, leading to a range of conditions that can include fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular weakness.
The Newcastle team's technique effectively replaces mitochondria, which generate energy inside cells, so a baby does not inherit faults from its mother.
Mitochondria are only passed down the maternal line.
"What we've done is like changing the battery on a laptop. The energy supply now works properly, but none of the information on the hard drive has been changed," Professor Turnbull said.
"A child born using this method would have correctly functioning mitochondria, but in every other respect would get all their genetic information from their father and mother."
Within a day of fertilisation, using in vitro fertilisation, nuclear DNA is removed from the embryo and implanted into a donor egg, whose own genetic material has been removed and discarded.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/15/2873162.htm?section=justin