This is nifty -
Feb. 5th, 2008 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgBritish scientists say they have created human embryos containing DNA from two women and a man in a procedure that researchers hope might be used one day to produce embryos free of inherited diseases.
Though the preliminary research has raised concerns about the possibility of genetically modified babies, the scientists say that the embryos are still only primarily the product of one man and one woman.
You can hear the hue and cry now, right? Gay marriage is NOTHING against this, right?
"The process aims to create healthy embryos for couples to avoid passing on genes carrying diseases.
The genes being replaced are the mitochondria, a cell's energy source, which are contained outside the nucleus in a normal female egg. Mistakes in the mitochondria's genetic code can result in serious diseases like muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, strokes and mental retardation.
In their research, Chinnery and colleagues used normal embryos created from one man and one woman that had defective mitochondria in the woman's egg. They then transplanted that embryo into an emptied egg donated from a second woman who had healthy mitochondria.
The research is being funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, a British charity.
Only trace amounts of a person's genes come from the mitochondria, and experts said it would be incorrect to say that the embryos have three parents.
"Most of the genes that make you who you are are inside the nucleus," Chinnery said. "We're not going anywhere near that."
I'm still not happy that there is nothing for people with these issues - only a possible means to prevent them in the future (and so far, the only way to find the issue in parents is for them to have a kid WITH them).
Interesting times, neh?
Though the preliminary research has raised concerns about the possibility of genetically modified babies, the scientists say that the embryos are still only primarily the product of one man and one woman.
You can hear the hue and cry now, right? Gay marriage is NOTHING against this, right?
"The process aims to create healthy embryos for couples to avoid passing on genes carrying diseases.
The genes being replaced are the mitochondria, a cell's energy source, which are contained outside the nucleus in a normal female egg. Mistakes in the mitochondria's genetic code can result in serious diseases like muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, strokes and mental retardation.
In their research, Chinnery and colleagues used normal embryos created from one man and one woman that had defective mitochondria in the woman's egg. They then transplanted that embryo into an emptied egg donated from a second woman who had healthy mitochondria.
The research is being funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, a British charity.
Only trace amounts of a person's genes come from the mitochondria, and experts said it would be incorrect to say that the embryos have three parents.
"Most of the genes that make you who you are are inside the nucleus," Chinnery said. "We're not going anywhere near that."
I'm still not happy that there is nothing for people with these issues - only a possible means to prevent them in the future (and so far, the only way to find the issue in parents is for them to have a kid WITH them).
Interesting times, neh?
