Life-threatening risks arise from new DNA-modified ‘three parent’ babies

‘A controversial new biotechnology technique to produce children with three genetic parents might not actually cure the congenital diseases it’s designed to target, experts have warned — most recently, in a study conducted by researchers from Oregon Health and Science University and published in the journal Nature.
The technique in question, popularly known as three-person (or “three-parent”) in vitro fertilization (IVF), is designed to produce babies free of inherited defects in their mitochondria, the organelles that provide cells with energy. Mitochondria have their own DNA, separate from the DNA in the nucleus that is believed to control nearly all our bodily processes and traits. Because mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother, three-person IVF takes the nucleus of a zygote produced via IVF and implants it into the donor egg, resulting in a cell with nuclear DNA from the two parents and mitochondrial DNA from a third person.’
Read more: Life-threatening risks arise from new DNA-modified ‘three parent’ babies