3-Parent Kids Are Coming

One too many parents for one child? Probably not too many if it can ensure that the coming child won’t develop a mitochondrial disease, which can mean a lot of health problems further on – including respiratory problems, heart and liver dysfunctions, muscular dystrophy and even blindness.

It isn’t an accepted procedure yet, but well on the way there, at least in the United Kingdom. Recently British lawmakers have voted for its legalization, and once the bill has been passed by the House of Lords, the UK will be the first country where mothers will be able to avail themselves of the technique.

Also known as mitochondrial manipulation, the birth technique involving three parents implies the removal of the mother’s nuclear genetic material right from the egg and its subsequent replacement into a donor egg or embryo with the nuclear DNA removed.

Experts have great expectations of the new technique. According to Dr. Copperman, director of the reproductive endocrinology and infertility division at The Mount Sinai Hospital and medical director of Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York, experimental performances have already been conducted, but it is still some time before it can become routine clinical procedure. He also expressed his belief that the U.S. and other countries will join the U.K. in adopting the technology and the relevant legislature – providing, of course, that the experiments turn out to be effective and safe.

It would probably be apt to put in some more information about mitochondria for a better awareness of what we are up against.

You may remember about mitochondria from your biology classes – the body is powered by the energy in the cells generated by them. If your mitochondria fail to power your body properly, all the body organs begin to malfunction. Once mitochondrial disease develops, various symptoms manifest themselves, like weakness, motion problems, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and many others. The United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation reports that in the United States up to 4,000 children are born with a mitochondrial disease every year.

Since it is known that mitochondrial diseases come down to the child from his mother, the replacement of the mother’s defective DNA by the donor’s DNA is a certain way to prevent the child from getting the disease. It is not very easy to do, though; Dr. Copperman describes the process as the replacement of the mother’s nuclear DNA into a healthy egg from which the nuclear DNA has been removed. It can be done before or after the fertilization with the father’s sperm. The healthy egg is further implanted into the mother’s uterus with a procedure similar to that in IVF.

Although it means that three people will be participating in the conception, the term “three-parent baby” is not true. The Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University points out that the DNA comprises something in the vicinity of 30.000 genes, and most of the DNA coming down to the child in mitochondrial donation originally belong to his or her parents, with only about 37 genes coming from the mitochondrial donor. That makes only about 0.1 per cent of the whole, with 99.9 per cent of the parents’ DNA. So, technically speaking, the donor isn’t a parent.

According to the BBC, British lawmakers took their time discussing possible issues of this brand-new technology. The points raised included the safety of the process, its possible social repercussions, and the question of whether it can be construed as genetic modification. Yet, mitochondrial donation doesn’t allow people have children with pre-ordered color of eyes or hair or something to this effect. What the parents get is their own (unpredictable in appearance) perfectly healthy baby with no scientific interference in heredity.

While we can rest assured about our children’s lineage integrity, the new technique is still too new to be sure about it. It is far from being perfected and it is going to take a lot more testing and experimenting to prevent any defective DNA genes staying in the cell to be passed on to the child. Yet, at this stage it looks like a great way to put down disease – with new possibilities in future, including rejuvenating eggs and helping barren couples to gain fertility.