'Three-Person IVF' Technique Moves Closer

It replaces defective genetic material in the egg in order to eliminate rare mitochondrial diseases.

After the consultation into "three-person IVF", ministers will decide whether to allow it in patients.

A £5.8m centre at Newcastle University, funded by the Wellcome Trust, will investigate the technique's safety.

Inherited defects

Mitochondria can be found within almost every human cell, and provide the energy they need to function.

Like the nucleus of the cell, they contain DNA, although in tiny quantities.

Approximately 1 in 5,000 babies is born with inherited defects in their mitochondrial DNA, the effects of which can be very severe, or even fatal, depending on which cells are affected.

Scientists believe they have found a way to substitute the defective mitochondria and hopefully prevent the child from developing a disease.

They take two eggs, one from the mother and another from a donor.

The nucleus of the donor egg is removed, leaving the rest of the egg contents, including the mitochondria, and is replaced with the nucleus from the mother's egg.

The resulting embryo has properly functioning mitochondria from the...