Aggregated News
The U.K. government today issued proposed regulations that would allow researchers to try a new and controversial in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in patients. The technique could allow women who are carriers of mitochondrial disease to have healthy, genetically related children. But it also transfers DNA from one egg or embryo into another, a form of genetic alteration that could be passed on to future generations. Altering the genes of human egg cells or embryos in IVF procedures is now forbidden in the United Kingdom.
The procedure has also been under scrutiny this week in the United States as an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration discussed the technique at a 2-day meeting.
Mitochondrial diseases occur when the organelles, which provide energy for cells, don’t work properly. Many such disorders result from mutations in the genes that mitochondria carry. Because mitochondria are passed on through the egg cell, the diseases are inherited from the mother.
Researchers have developed ways to transfer the genetic material from an egg cell that carries faulty mitochondria into a donor egg cell that...
The procedure has also been under scrutiny this week in the United States as an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration discussed the technique at a 2-day meeting.
Mitochondrial diseases occur when the organelles, which provide energy for cells, don’t work properly. Many such disorders result from mutations in the genes that mitochondria carry. Because mitochondria are passed on through the egg cell, the diseases are inherited from the mother.
Researchers have developed ways to transfer the genetic material from an egg cell that carries faulty mitochondria into a donor egg cell that...