A child of three parents

Thanks to the possibilities offered by the new technique, a child of three parents was born. Its genetic material comes from three people. The new method was used to avoid a genetic disorder called. Leigh syndrome.

Five months ago, an unusual baby came into the world – a child of three parentsów. His DNA contains genes from his father, mother and some mitochondrial DNA from a cell donoróof the egg. The baby boy is healthy and American doctors have confirmed it. Despite the fact that his mother is a carrier of the so-called “natural rhesus”. of Leigh syndrome and her previous offspring died.

The story behind this birth is not a happy one. One Jordanian couple had been trying for 20 years to have offspring. Their first child, cóShe died at the age of six. The second was a boy, but he only survived eight months. Meanwhile, there have also been four miscarriages. Only later was it discovered that the woman was a carrier of the geneóof the rare disease that causes it.

SyndromeóLeigh’s disease is a disease that affects the nervous system, muscles, módeath and all vital internal organs at a very fast rate. It manifests itself between three and 24 months after birth and the prognosis is always dire. syndromeóLeigh is passed on through mitochondrial DNA inherited entirely from the mother.

The boy was born thanks to a method thatóra uses comóEggs dwówomen. To omit the complexódisease, doctors extracted cell nucleus DNA from motheróThe donor’s mitochondria were taken from the mother’sóthat were free of Leigh syndrome. Prepared in this wayób comóThe egg was fertilized with the father’s sperm and implanted into the mother’s uterus.

The new method was brought to life by Dr. John Zhang of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City and his team. The procedure was performed in Mexico because U.S. law prohibits the use of in vitro fertilization with genetic material from three peopleób.