UK Scientists to Create Embryo From Two Women

An anonymous reader wrote to mention a BBC story about a UK research group that has been given permission to create a human embryo with genetic material from two women. From the article: "The groundbreaking work aims to prevent mothers from passing certain genetic diseases on to their unborn babies. The researchers are focusing on a group of conditions called mitochondrial myopathy, which include types of muscular dystrophy. These cause muscle weakness and wasting, making it difficult to move normally - some may need to use a wheelchair. At present no treatment for these exists, although things can be done to help with the symptoms. "

Comments

Beginning of a B-Movie?

[gbulmash]

Seems to me to be the beginning of one of those sci-fi scenarios where women no longer need men to reproduce. Two women want a baby, they just have this procedure done, and voila. No need for sperm to make the baby and there's a 100% guarantee the baby is a girl.

Gradually, men begin to disappear as old ones die and no new ones are born to replace them, until finally Earth is entirely populated by women.

Then some major event happens (like a giant meteor strike) that knocks technology back into the stone age. Without men and without labs, no babies can be created. The race is dying out.

And then, deep in some hidden location, a small cache of men is found in a research facility that was trying to find a way to keep the male half of our species alive. They are the last men on earth, and a planet full of women wants their stud services!

Commando teams of women try to raid the facility so that the men can be captured, mechanically "milked" for their semen, and it can be distributed. But the facility was created with superior defenses. The men inside are safe. Gradually the women realize that the men are in charge of their own bodies.

Each day ovulating women line up outside the facility, naked save for a pair of high heels, and bearing gifts of food and assorted lagers. The men choose the ones they find most attractive, then those must face off in an exotic dancing competition to determine who may enter and be serviced.

I think I've just written the script to a late-night cable movie.

- Greg

Re:Beginning of a B-Movie?

[Rei]

This is not anything like "eliminating men". They're not even recombining two women's DNA - they're using using the mitochondrial DNA from one and the combined nuclear DNA from a male and female pair.

Re:Beginning of a B-Movie?

[Anonymous Coward]

Quit with the science, nerd-man. I want to see the movie!

Re:Beginning of a B-Movie?

[AEton]

There was an episode of Sliders with a slightly different setup but the same conclusion. ("Love Gods"). It was a whole lot like another episode where LOL WOMEN R THE LEADERZ ("The Weaker Sex").

Re:Muscular dystrophy

[Wookie Monster]

general strategy for not passing off genetic defects is to not have children. duh.

Topic = False Impression

[Dreoth]

This is basically a new surrogate mother approach. Nothing more. The article still mentions the need for sperm. "The result would be an embryo with pronuclei DNA from the parental egg and sperm but mitochondria - and mitochondrial DNA - from the donor egg."

Cytoplasm from one, nucleus from the other

[Tau Zero]

There's DNA in the mitochrondria, which is defective in the nucleus-donor egg but (hopefully) good in the cytoplasm-donor egg. Think of it as trying to replace a chromosome with a defective gene, made easier because this chromosome isn't in the nucleus.

Curiously, the DNA in the mitochondria use a slightly different genetic code than our nuclear DNA does; genes have moved from the mitochondria to the nucleus over time, but the process is not complete. It's believed that mitochondria come from an ancient endosymbiosis event.