HEATHER HAS A MOMMY AND DADDY - AND ANOTHER MOMMY

The Yukon, July, 1991

Picture was taken at 10:00 p.m.  Glad I bought that flashlight!

Boy, have I ever got a treat for all you genetics/biochemistry freaks following  my blog! (Especially you folks in Turkey,  Moldova and the Ukraine.)   An article you will love appeared recently in the “Magazine” section of the NY Times: you can read it at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/magazine/the-brave-new-world-of-three-parent-ivf.html?ref=health&_r=0

To understand what follows, you have to recall the meaning of the following:

Cytoplasm:  The goop in a cell outside the nucleus, comprising all sorts of things including organelles called…

Mitochondria:  Tiny, membrane-enclosed packages that produce energy by the breakdown of sugars.  Contained within the mitochondria is a short strand of DNA, called miDNA.

I.V.F:   In-vitro fertilization, wherein an egg is extracted from a female, fertilized in a test tube, then re-implanted in the uterus.

Parents:  Individuals who contribute DNA to a …..

Zygote: A single omnipotent cell capable of transforming itself into a human being.  (Or, if it is a goat zygote, into a full-fledged goat  You get the picture..)

Anyway, the article describes research aimed at (1) enhancing fertility in women who have a hard time getting pregnant, and (2) curing some very nasty diseases that occur when the mitochondria misbehave owing to mutated miDNA.  The fertilization part of the “experiment” has been going on for a long time; fully healthy and highly functional children have been the result (although several “failures” are noted.)    The second goal has been pursued for a shorter time & the jury seems still to be out.

What these guys do is something like this.  They take a fertilized egg, extract the cytoplasm (how, for God’s sake!), then replace it with cytoplasm extracted from the egg of another woman.  This, then, is implanted in the proper place (I.V.F) and allowed to reach maturity.  The result: should  be a child whose cells contained the nuclear DNA of her mother and father – and the miDNA of another  woman.  Characteristics such as height, hair color, smarts, etc. would be the result of DNA from the mother and father (plus environmental effects, of course), but the little mitochondrial power plants would be inherited from a stranger.  So?

Well, note that mitochondria are inherited exclusively from the mother.  Thus, the “stranger miDNA” conceivably could echo down the corridors of time, “even to the nth generation.”  Is that bad?

Well, hell, I couldn’t figure out what the problem actually is.  It seems to have a large moral/philosophical dimension.  The article is long, and when I get the clothes washed I will read it again.  In the meantime, enjoy!