Scientists in the UK are applying for a licence to create children with three genetic parents. The aim is to prevent the children from inheriting genetic diseases caused by mutations in DNA housed by their mitochondria - components of cells which produce energy.The application from Doug Turnbull and Mary Herbert at the University of Newcastle will be decided upon by the UK’s regulatory body, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, over the next few weeks.The procedure would involve fertilising a woman’s egg by in-vitro fertilisation outside the body and transplanting the fertilised nucleus to an egg from another woman which has had its nucleus removed.Any child born following implantation would have cells containing a nucleus with genes from both parents, and mitochondria from a woman other than their mother.Normally, mitochondria are inherited from the mother via the egg. Mitochondrial mutations are more prevalent in older women, so using a young woman as the egg cytoplasm donor would reduce the risk of inheriting mitochondrial diseases.
