Baby born with DNA from 3 people, first from new technique

The doctor helped the couple and their donor give birth to a child in Mexico using a technique that is illegal in the USA and remains heavily debated in the United Kingdom, according an exclusive report in the New Scientist.

The controversial "three-parent" technique allows parents with rare genetic mutations to have healthy babies. However, he isn't the first child to claim a trio of parents.

The Jordanian mother of the child has genetic material in DNA in her mitochondria that can cause a fatal nervous system disorder called Leigh syndrome.

Mitochondria are tiny compartments inside almost every cell of the body that convert food into usable energy.

Tests revealed that the boy's mother carries genes for the disease in her mitochondria. Mitochondrial diseases can cause a whole host of life-threatening problems, and it's estimated that as many as 4,000 children are born with such conditions in the United States each year. There are two types for in vitro fertilization.

And the baby boy born earlier this year isn't the first child to have a little more DNA than mum and dad could provide on their own: An IVF technique that relied on small transfers of donor DNA was pioneered in the U.S. during the 1990s, but was banned after fewer than 100 babies were born. Thus another three parent technique, known as spindle nuclear transfer, was used: the nucleus was first removed from the mother's egg and inserted into a donor's egg removing its own nucleus.

The other embryo is destroyed, which wouldn't fly with the parents, who are Muslim.

Doctors led by John Zhang, from the New Hope Fertility Center in NY, chose to attempt the controversial procedure of mitochondrial transfer in the hope that it would give the couple a healthy child.

The technique created an egg that paired the nucleus from one of the mother's eggs with the disease-free mitochondrial DNA from a donor's egg, the magazine explained.

The circuitous route required to obtain the remedy highlights the leaky regulatory barriers surrounding for such procedures.

In 2009, a group led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland revived the debate about mitochondrial replacement therapy by achieving success in macaque monkeys.

"By performing the treatment in Mexico, the team were not subject to the same stringent regulation as some other countries would insist on", Dr Ilic said.

Prof Darren Griffin, an expert in Genetics at the UK's University of Kent, said: "This study heralds a new era in preimplantation genetics and represents a novel means for the treatment of families at risk of transmitting genetic disease".

Incomplete protection ultimately doomed the first attempts at mitochondrial correction in the 1990s. He then fertilised the egg with the husband's sperm. Take eggs from a donor with healthy mitochondria. 3.

"A lot of people say I have facial features from my mum, my eyes look like my dad..."

First is cytoplasmic transfer.

The research summary identified the mother as a 36-year-old woman and said her pregnancy was uneventful. That decision opened up significant debate about the ethics of genetic modification and concerns over so-called "designer babies" that can be created via controversial genome editing methods.