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First 'three person baby' born using new method | First 'three person baby' born using new method |
(35 minutes later) | |
The world's first baby has been born using a new "three person" fertility technique, New Scientist reveals. | The world's first baby has been born using a new "three person" fertility technique, New Scientist reveals. |
The five-month-old boy has the usual DNA from his mum and dad, plus a tiny bit of genetic code from a donor. | The five-month-old boy has the usual DNA from his mum and dad, plus a tiny bit of genetic code from a donor. |
US doctors took the unprecedented step to ensure the baby boy would be free of a genetic condition that his Jordanian mother carries in her genes. | US doctors took the unprecedented step to ensure the baby boy would be free of a genetic condition that his Jordanian mother carries in her genes. |
Experts say the move heralds a new era in medicine and could help other families with rare genetic conditions. | Experts say the move heralds a new era in medicine and could help other families with rare genetic conditions. |
But they warn that rigorous checks of this new and controversial technology, called mitochondrial donation, are needed. | But they warn that rigorous checks of this new and controversial technology, called mitochondrial donation, are needed. |
It's not the first time scientists have created babies that have DNA from three people - that breakthrough began in the late 1990s - but it is an entirely new and significant method. | |
Three person babies | Three person babies |
Mitochondria are tiny compartments inside nearly every cell of the body that convert food into usable energy. | Mitochondria are tiny compartments inside nearly every cell of the body that convert food into usable energy. |
Some women carry genetic defects in mitochondria and they can pass these on to their children. In the case of the Jordanian family, it was a disorder called Leigh Syndrome that would have proved fatal to any baby conceived. | Some women carry genetic defects in mitochondria and they can pass these on to their children. In the case of the Jordanian family, it was a disorder called Leigh Syndrome that would have proved fatal to any baby conceived. |
Scientists have devised a number of ways to circumvent this problem. | Scientists have devised a number of ways to circumvent this problem. |
The US team, who travelled to Mexico to carry out the procedure because there are no laws there that prohibit it, used a method that takes all the vital DNA from the mother's egg plus healthy mitochondria from a donor egg to create a healthy new egg that can be fertilised with the father's sperm. | |
The result is a baby with 0.1% of their DNA from the donor (mitochondrial DNA) and all the genetic code for things like hair and eye colour from the mother and father. | The result is a baby with 0.1% of their DNA from the donor (mitochondrial DNA) and all the genetic code for things like hair and eye colour from the mother and father. |
The UK has already passed laws to allow the creation of babies from three people. | |
But the science does raise ethical questions, including how any child from the technique might feel about having DNA from three people. | |
Fertility experts say it is important to push ahead, but cautiously. | |
Prof Alison Murdoch, part of the team at Newcastle University that has been at the forefront of three person IVF work in the UK, said: "The translation of mitochondrial donation to a clinical procedure is not a race but a goal to be achieved with caution to ensure both safety and reproducibility." |