Newscastle University scientists have been granted approval to create an embryo containing genetic material from two mothers. The project aims to stop fetuses from inheriting mitochondrial diseases that are passed on from DNA outside the nucleus of the human egg, called mitochondrial DNA. From the BBC:
Studies in mice show it is possible to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial disease by moving the pronuclei – the genetic material which will go on to form a nucleus – from a fertilised egg containing bad mitochondria and putting it into another fertilised egg which only contains good mitochondria…
Instead of transplanting the pronuclei, these researchers injected another woman's ooplasm – the substance inside the cell that contains the mitochondrial DNA and bathes the nucleus – into the egg cell of the mother with faulty mitochondrial DNA.
The resulting egg would never be allowed to develop into a baby.But even if it did, the offspring would still resemble their mother and father because the mitochondrial DNA does not dictate things like hair colour.
