BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Editing advantage

How mitochondrial germline editing could upstage three-parent IVF

May 14, 2015 7:00 AM UTC

A team from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has developed a technique for editing mitochondrial DNA in one-cell embryos to eliminate mutant mitochondrial genes. While gene editing in embryos has been a flashpoint for controversy, the team believes this method is less contentious and simpler to employ than the mitochondrial replacement approach legalized in the U.K. this year.

"Compared to the mitochondrial replacement techniques recently approved in the U.K., our technology does not require the use of healthy donor oocytes and consequently will not result in the generation of human embryos with genetic material from three different individuals," said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, senior author on the study and a professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory at Salk.Mutations in mitochondrial DNA cause diseases that involve organs with high energy consumption such as the muscles, heart and brain. About 15% of genetic mitochondrial diseases are caused exclusively by mutations in mitochondrial DNA, which makes up about 0.0005% of a person's total DNA and is transcribed and regulated separately from nuclear DNA. The majority of genetic mitochondrial diseases are caused by mutations in nuclear DNA or in both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA...