The idea is to develop a healthy fetus that will not suffer from genetic problems * One in every 5,000 children and adults suffer from muscular dystrophy as a result of a defect in the mitochondrial DNA
Avi Blizovsky
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Critics in the UK have expressed shock at research designed to create a human embryo with genetic material from three parents. Newcastle University's proposal is the first to break the restrictions on parts of the field of human fertility and embryology. The research proposal was approved by a special ethics committee of the Ministry of Health in Great Britain.
As part of the research, genetic material created when the egg and sperm merge into another egg will be transferred. The groundbreaking work is designed to prevent mothers from passing on some genetic diseases to their unborn children.
These diseases originate in the mitochondrial DNA, meaning that which is outside the nucleus. These diseases are therefore called mitochondrial diseases. Mitochondria are small structures found in every cell in the body except red blood cells. They are responsible for producing the energy we need to grow and live. The trial of the innovative approach may lead to the development of a treatment for myopathic diseases (a type of muscle disease).
One of the unique features of mitochondria is that they have their own DNA - the mitochondrial DNA, which we inherit from our validation only. If this DNA is damaged mitochondrial diseases occur. Currently there is no treatment for these diseases.
Studies in mice have demonstrated the possibility of preventing the transmission of mitochondrial diseases by removing the genetic material from which the pronuclei muscles will develop from the fertilized egg that includes damaged mitochondria and inserting it into another fertilized egg with good mitochondria.
Professor Doug Turnbull, Professor of Neurology at Newcastle University, and Dr Marie Herbert, Scientific Director of the Life Sciences Research Fertility Center at Newcastle plan to do the same in humans.
American scientists from the Center for Fertility Medicine in St. Bernards, New Jersey, reported in 2001 that they were able to do a similar thing, and gave birth to 15 healthy children who did not suffer from the disease their mothers suffered from.
However, instead of transferring the pronuclei, these researchers injected
The egg plasma - the component inside the cell that includes the mitochondrial DNA and inject the entire nucleus into a normal egg.
But even so, the offspring will resemble their father and mother because the mitochondrial DNA does not dictate things like hair color.
The British researchers, funded by the Society for the Fight against Muscular Dystrophy, will examine whether the transplantation of the nuclear donor material is safe. The resulting egg will never be allowed to develop into a child. According to the researchers, this is only the first step in a complex process, which they hope will eventually lead to the development of techniques that may prevent the transmission of mitochondrial diseases. One in every 5,000 children and adults are in danger of developing mitochondrial diseases that cause muscle weakness, up to the need to use a wheelchair. The permission to research human embryos is particularly important after a public debate is taking place on the subject in the UK. Opponents of the research claim that the research is dangerous and unethical.
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