In simple words when a baby is born from the DNAs of three people then we generally call it a threeparent- baby. The first three-parent baby was born recently in the USA with the help of a technique. The technique replaces a small amount of faulty DNA in a mother’s egg with healthy DNA from a second woman. This results in the baby inheriting genes from two mothers and one father.
The idea is to prohibit certain genetic diseases from being passed on to children. The technique which was used in achieving this landmark in the history of medical science is known as Spindle transfer.
This technique is explained in detail below:
The healthy nuclear DNA is removed by the patient’s egg cell leaving behind faulty mitochondrial DNA.
Patient’s nuclear DNA will be transplanted to the donor’s egg with healthy mitochondrial DNA.
Therefore by replacing the dysfunctional mitochondria carried by a woman who wishes to conceive a child with the healthy mitochondria of a donor.
Egg is then fertilized with partner’s sperm through In Vitro Fertilization.
The embryo thus created is one technically cleansed of the mutated mitochondrial DNA that the mother originally carried.
The reconstructed egg cell fertilized with sperm in the lab and implanted into the mother and thus resulted in the embryo will have three genetic parents.
Ishu
Three-Parent-Baby:
This technique is explained in detail below: