Calay News
The United Kingdom has reported the birth of the first baby conceived with DNA from three individuals through an innovative in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure. This method, known as mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), uses tissue from healthy donor eggs to create IVF embryos without the harmful mutations from the mothers. The goal of the treatment is to prevent babies from inheriting severe and deadly diseases caused by detrimental mutations in the mitochondria, which provide vital energy to the cells of organs. The UK Parliament allowed this method in 2015, and the Newcastle Clinic became the first authorized national center to perform the procedure two years later.
Although some believe that the genetic material of the donor and the parents is distributed in equal proportions, children born through this IVF method have over 99.8% of their DNA derived from their biological mother and father. To prevent the baby from inheriting diseases, doctors combine the sperm and eggs of the parents with tiny structures from another person, known as egg mitochondria. The child has DNA from the parents, except for a small amount of genetic material (around 37 genes) from the donor.
The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority of the UK has given the green light to at least 30 cases of this procedure. Other countries are also turning to mitochondrial donation to prevent genetic diseases in babies. In 2016, an American doctor announced the birth of the world’s first baby conceived using MDT after treating a woman who carried a mutation causing a progressive neurological disease called Leigh syndrome. In general, one in every 6,000 babies is affected by mitochondrial disorders, and this treatment represents a hopeful option to prevent the inheritance of severe and deadly diseases in future generations.
