Posted 11.12.2009 at 6:18 pm
5 Comments
Random IVF
via Jill Stanek
Even though the combination of affluence and fertility drugs has raised the age at which many women give birth, children born to older women continue to suffer a disproportionately high rate of birth defects and genetic disease. Many of these problems result from the degradation of the area of the region of the egg around the nucleus.
To correct for those problems, a team of Japanese researchers has implanted the nucleus of an older woman's egg into the egg cell of a younger donor. This may fix the problem, but it also moves medicine closer to the ethically challenging creation of a person with three biological parents.
This isn't the first time the concept of the three-parent baby has confronted bioethicists in particular, and the public at large. In February of last year, British scientists created embryos with the regular DNA of one mother, and the mitochondrial DNA of another. Those embryos never matured into actual people, but in August of this year, researchers in Oregon created full-grown hybrid monkeys using the same technique.
So far, the Japanese eggs have not matured either, although 31 of the eggs were fertilized as part of the proof of concept.
This experiment also calls into question the nature of a parent, as in this case, the egg donor only pass on part of the cell, and not any genetic material.
Regardless of the outcome of this particular experiment, it is yet another step towards both a three parent child, and society's need to determine the ethical and legal implications of such a child.
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Maybe I'm wrong but we determine who our parents are by genetic material.
@Azorus The thing is you have your chromosomes that have the plans to make you had how to run you then you have mitochondria that supply the power to each of your cells. If you denucleate an egg the original mitochondria will likely be left behind then when the new nuclease is injected it will probably not bring any mitochondria with it. This could provide an effective mechanism for women with mitochondrial disease to have healthy children. If you want to go all mad scientist you could use animal donor eggs which through tougher natural selection have superior mitochondria to create people with more energy and are stronger with out having any of the animals other characteristics because mitochondria don't build you they just supply the power to run you.
The article is about weather there are three parents or two. I said what I did because the article declares three because of another females egg, however if she is not contributing any gentic material how can she be considered a parent?
Mitochondria has genetic material. The mitochondria stay with the downer egg and will be passed on to decedents through matriarchal lines.
If there is no genetic material present in the new egg then the child naturally has 2 parents and not 3? How to do you explain surrogate mothers? Ricky Martin is gay and has a pair of twins and there was never an issue about that.
Regards,
Mike
www.houstonfertilitysolutions.com/