First ever UK baby born using DNA from three people in new IVF procedure
Doctors performed an IVF procedure that aims to prevent passing down incurable diseases from parents to their children by introducing DNA from a 'third parent' for the first time in the UK.
But defective mitochondria fails to make these conversions – leading to brain damage, muscle wasting, blindness and heart failure.The defective mitochondria is only passed down by the mother, which is why the “three-parent-baby” uses two mothers and a father. This tiny segment of genes from the donor then becomes a permanent change that is passed down through generations.However as the method does not affect characteristics such as appearance, and 99.8% of the genes still come from the mother and father, the donor could not actually be classified a third parent.
Sarah Norcross, the director of the Progress Educational Trust said: “News that a small number of babies with donated mitochondria have now been born in the UK is the next step, in what will probably remain a slow and cautious process of assessing and refining mitochondrial donation.”
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