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Baby monkeys born to three parents
Scientists have produced four baby monkeys which each have three biological parents.
- Daily Mail
- Published: 22:30 August 27, 2009
London: Scientists have produced four baby monkeys which each have three biological parents.
They used an IVF procedure designed to stop the spread of incurable inherited diseases.
Scientists believe the breakthrough could lead to the first genetically-engineered children within a few years.
It has provoked an ethics storm, however. Critics say it is a step towards an era of hybrid children and warn that it erodes the sanctity of life.
The technique is intended to help women who carry genetic diseases.
It involves transferring healthy DNA from the mother's egg cell into an egg donated by another woman.
Children conceived by the technique would inherit DNA from three sources - their mother, the donor and their father.
The American team who produced the macaque monkeys - named Mito, Tracker, Spindler and Spindy - say the technique could be used to eradicate potentially fatal forms of inherited epilepsy, blindness and heart disease.
The diseases, which affect some 150 UK babies a year, are caused by mutations in the mitochondrial DNA which is passed down from mothers to children.
Mitochondria are sausage- shaped 'power packs' that float around inside cells, converting food into energy that the body can use.
Each contains a tiny strand of DNA, carrying just 37 of the 20,000 or so human genes. The rest are in the DNA in the cell's nucleus.
Mitochondrial DNA can only be passed on via mothers' eggs, not through sperm.
Doctors have identified around 50 diseases caused by mutations of this DNA - some of which kill before adulthood. Symptoms include muscle weakness, dementia, blindness, hearing loss and heart and kidney problems.
The US experiment, reported today in the journal Nature, involved researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Centre.
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