First child born in the UK with DNA from three people

The United Kingdom’s fertility regulator has confirmed the birth of a child using DNA from three people. The innovative technique, which was legalized in the UK in 2015, is an attempt to prevent the birth of children with mitochondrial diseases.

Mitochondrial diseases are long-term genetic and often inherited disorders that occur when a person’s mitochondria do not produce enough energy for the body to function properly. This results in brain damage, muscle wasting, heart failure, and blindness.

Mitochondria are transmitted to the child only from the mother, so the method, which is a modified form of IVF (fertilization of an egg with a sperm outside the woman’s body and then implantation of the embryo inside the uterus), uses mitochondria from a healthy donor egg to prevent inheritance of diseases.

The first child born using this method was born in 2016 in the United States. According to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, only five babies have been born in this way so far.

The majority of a child’s DNA comes from two biological parents, but about 0.1% comes from a third, donor woman. The DNA donor is only needed to create efficient mitochondria and does not affect the child’s other traits, such as appearance, temperament, character, etc. Scientists emphasize that the donor is not considered either the mother or the father of the child.

Experts in the field of reproductive technologies describe the method as «encouraging,» but warn that there is still a long way to go.

«The number of reported cases is too small to draw definitive conclusions about safety or efficacy,» said Dagan Wells, a professor of reproductive genetics at Oxford University who participated in the study. — «Long-term follow-up of children born with three DNAs is critical.»

Earlier, we told you about a tech startup that proposed the concept of the world’s first factory for growing babies. Berlin biotechnologists claim that one such plant will be able to «hatch» up to 30,000 babies a year. According to the scientists, this option will allow infertile couples to conceive a child and become real biological parents of their own offspring.