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Three Parents Contribute to Experimental Human Embryo

gihan_ripper writes "It sounds like the storyline from a cheesy film, but a human embryo has been created using the genetic material from one man and two women. A team from Newcastle University, England, developed the technique in the hope that it could be used to prevent diseases caused by faulty mitochondria. Their experiment started with two ingredients: first, a left over (and 'severely abnormal') embryo from an IVF treatment; second, a donor egg from another woman. The donor egg has all but the mitochondrial DNA removed, then a nucleus from the embryo is inserted into the egg. Effectively, this results in a mitochondria transplant. 'While any baby born through this method would have genetic elements from three people, the nuclear DNA that influences appearance and other characteristics would not come from the woman providing the donor egg. However, the team only have permission to carry out the lab experiments and as yet this would not be allowed to be offered as a treatment.'"

8 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory Office Space Comment by show+me+altoids · · Score: 5, Funny

    Two chicks at once!

    --
    I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they get up in the morning, that's as good as they're gonna feel
    1. Re:Obligatory Office Space Comment by operagost · · Score: 5, Funny

      Killjoy scientists. They even find ways to take the fun out of three-ways!

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  2. Poor kid. by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's a kid who's going to spend their whole life dreading Mother's Day.

    1. Re:Poor kid. by notnAP · · Score: 4, Funny
      I can see it now...

      Teacher: Timmy, you've put the apostrophe in the wrong place again... It's Mother's Day, not Mothers' Day...

      Timmy: But Miss Jones...



      Or how about...

      Timmy: Mr. Therapist, I think I have an Oedipal urge to sleep with my mothers...

      Therapist: Your libido is fine, Timmy... That'll be $150.

  3. Can and Should by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just because they can, should they? Maybe I'm too cynical, but in a world that's already overpopulated it seems counter-productive in the long run to figure out how to make humans the most expensive way possible. I probably need coffee and a Blank Expression.

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
    1. Re:Can and Should by notorious+ninja · · Score: 5, Insightful
      From the article --

      "It could ensure women with genetic defects do not pass the diseases on to their children.

      The technique is intended to help women with diseases of the mitochondria - mini-organs that are found within individual cells. "
      They most definitely should. :) Sure, the world may be overpopulated, but people want to have their own children, and ensuring that they're healthy seems like a good thing to me...
  4. Awesome! by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

    The next step is to implant the embryo into Arnold Schwarzenegger. Get ready for some madcap fun!

  5. Nooooooo!!! by unbug · · Score: 5, Funny

    God, I hope they aren't going to patent threesomes now!