If this goes any further, we may need genealogy software that allows one to
enter three or more parents - and what would a pedigree chart look like
then?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080205/ap_on_sc/embryo_research
LONDON - British scientists say they have created human embryos containing
DNA
from two women and a man in a procedure that researchers hope might be
used
one day to produce embryos free of inherited diseases.
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Though the preliminary research has raised concerns about the possibility
of
genetically modified babies, the scientists say that the embryos are still
only primarily the product of one man and one woman.
"We are not trying to alter genes, we're just trying to swap a small
pro****tion of the bad ones for some good ones," said Patrick Chinnery, a
professor of neurogenetics at Newcastle University involved in the
research.
The research was presented at a scientific conference recently, but has
not
been published in a scientific journal.
The process aims to create healthy embryos for couples to avoid passing on
genes carrying diseases.
The genes being replaced are the mitochondria, a cell's energy source,
which
are contained outside the nucleus in a normal female egg. Mistakes in the
mitochondria's genetic code can result in serious diseases like muscular
dystrophy, epilepsy, strokes and mental retardation.
In their research, Chinnery and colleagues used normal embryos created
from
one man and one woman that had defective mitochondria in the woman's egg.
They
then transplanted that embryo into an emptied egg donated from a second
woman
who had healthy mitochondria.
The research is being funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, a British
charity.
Only trace amounts of a person's genes come from the mitochondria, and
experts
said it would be incorrect to say that the embryos have three parents.
"Most of the genes that make you who you are are inside the nucleus,"
Chinnery
said. "We're not going anywhere near that."
So far, 10 such embryos have been created, though they have not been
allowed
to develop for more than five days. Chinnery hoped that after further
experiments in the next few years the process might be available to
parents
undergoing in-vitro fertilization.
"If successful, this research could give families who might otherwise have
a
bleak future a chance to avoid some very grave diseases," said Francoise
Shenfield, a fertility expert with the European Society of Human
Reproduction
and Embryology. Shenfield was not connected to the Newcastle University
research.
Similar experiments have been conducted in animals in Japan, and has
already
led to the birth of healthy mice who had their mitochondria genes
corrected.
Shenfield said that further tests to *****s the safety and efficacy of the
process were necessary before it could be offered as a potential
treatment.
A bill to allow the procedure to be regulated as a therapy for couples —
once
it is proven to work — is expected to be discussed in Britain's House of
Commons in March.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop
uk
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