Have you heard of a three-parent baby?

Q.  Where was world’s first three-parent baby born in the world?
- Published on 29 Sep 16

a. China
b. Mexico
c. Spain
d. Italy

ANSWER: Mexico
 
Have you heard of a three-parent baby?The world’s first three-parent baby was born in Mexico with the aid of a new fertility technique that uses DNA from three people.
  • The baby is said to be healthy at 5 months of age
  • The technique allows parents with rare genetic mutations to have healthy children
  • Boy’s mother carries genes for Leigh syndrome, a fatal brain disorder
  • The Jordanian couple had a daughter but she was born with Leigh Syndrome as was their second child
  • The couple then sought out treatment at New Hope Fertility Centre in NYC
  • Researcher John Zhang and his team used spindle nuclear transfer- removing the nucleus from one of the mother’s egg and inserting it into a donor egg which has its own nucleus removed
  • Resulting egg- with nuclear DNA from mother and mitochondrial DNA from donor- was fertilised with the sperm of the father
  • 5 embryos were created one of which developed normally and the baby was born in April 2016
  • When researchers tested the boy’s mitochondria, they found that less than one percent carry the mutation; problems only start when 18 percent of the mitochondria is affected

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