Is it a boy or a girl? Moms and dads (to be) are over the moon to welcome a little human being into the world. We all know where babies come from. At least, so we think. The baby will have one mum and one dad, right? Or maybe two mums or two dads. But what about three parents? Two mums and one dad, how could that exist?
Some new techniques are developed to ‘create’ an embryo.
Why the need?
Let’s start by discussing why scientists were trying to create an alternative to the ‘normal’ way of making babies. It started out with some couples having trouble getting a healthy baby or getting pregnant at all. There are some genetic disorders that only the mum can transfer, through the mitochondrial DNA. This is a special piece of DNA that only women have, and what only they can pass along. So if the mum has a predisposition for some particular genetic disorder, the pregnancy will not last, or the child will be affected and will not live for long. To avoid this, scientists discovered that they can adapt the mitochondrial DNA in the embryo.
How do they do it?
So, scientists can adapt the mitochondrial DNA in the embryo. But how can they do this?
When the egg of the woman contains the mitochondrial DNA that is corrupt, this can be taken out of the egg and replaced by the mitochondrial DNA of an egg of a healthy woman. Next, the original egg, with the new mitochondrial DNA can be fertilized with the original father’s sperm. This egg will be ‘healthy’ and little problems will occur later on in the life of the child. An example is a teenage girl, whose mother had undergone an infertility treatment called cytoplasmic transfer. The girl never had any problems in her life which are related to the change in mitochondrial DNA. This leads to children with two mums and one dad.
Future implications
What could happen in the future is that this technique can help many couples that couldn’t have (healthy) children, to start a healthy family. Together with other techniques in genetic modification, people will be able to choose all characteristics of their future babies. The science is ready, but I personally think that the society is not ready for these techniques to be used. It can create a lot of inhuman practices and modifying genetics is not something out of nature. My opinion is to better stick with what nature has decided for us.
Related articles
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2107219-exclusive-worlds-first-baby-born-with-new-3-parent-technique/
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28986843
http://www.popsci.com/what-worlds-first-three-parent-baby-birth-could-mean-for-techniques-future
HI Michelle, thank you for your blog! Very interesting topic. While I believe it is good that parents who really want a child of their but carry specific genes are now able to deliver a healthy child, I also believe limits should be put as to which extend DNA can modified. Taking out/replacing a specific gene is one thing, but deciding the gender of your baby, their eye colour, their hair colour or even how their metabolism works is taking it a step too far for me. I agree with you: I think it is better to stick with what nature has decided for us. However, I do believe genetic modification can offer possibilities for people who carry certain genes, and that it can be used for special cases as such.