Photo courtesy of citypictures.org
Since the dawn of time a child has been formed from the DNA of one father and one mother. Did you ever think that one day DNA from three people would be present in a child? On Tuesday the House of Commons in the United Kingdom voted in favor of mitochondria donation.
Like me
you might be wondering what is mitochondria, and why would it be donated? The mitochondria
are the parts of a cell that regulate the growth and energy of a cell. They are not a part of the nucleus(to see a
full description click here). If
the mitochondria of a woman's egg cells are defective, their children are more
likely to have life challenging or threatening diseases.
Mitochondria donation looks at the possibility
of taking the nucleus out of an egg with
bad mitochondria and placing it in the egg from a woman with good mitochondria. The
DNA of the natural parents will remain untouched in the nucleus(which controls
personality, gender, hair color etc.) and the healthy mitochondria of the donor
will surround it. The result is a child
with DNA from three people. This change
would be permanent, meaning that the child's children will all have the healthy
mitochondria DNA.
Photo courtesy of Center for Genetics and Society
There
are two ways this swap can take place. First,
with an unfertilized egg. Second, with a
fertilized embryo. In the second
situation both the donor and mother's eggs must be fertilized. That means that the nucleus of the donor must
be removed and discarded. There goes
another life. It seems ironic that in
order to save one life, you would kill another.
It is one thing when a person gives their life for another; it is all together different when a person's
life is "volunteered" for death.
What
does this mean for the future? If we
have the scientific know-how and
technology to swap a nucleus, why not change the nucleus. As a Christian what should our biblical response
be? Scientific and technological
advances are a part of the world we live in, but how will we use them? Are we using them to destroy or save a
life? When faced with challenging
situations whose decision does it become, the governments , the doctors, or the
individuals? Ultimately where will it
lead, where does it lead you?
Resources: The Washington Post, NewScientist, Cable News Network (CNN), Center for Genetics and Society
Ivy, this is a very fascinating blog post. I had not heard about this development in the area of in vitro fertilization. Thanks for taking the time to explain what mitochonrida donation even is. It was helpful for me to read your analysis of it. I like how you listed your resources at the conclusion of the post.
ReplyDeleteWow! I am speechless. This was a good science class. I really am interested in knowing more about this but i am kind of scared too. And with the questions you asked can go either way for me because i would have to really do research on this topic. Wow is all i can say. But those are really good questions. I wonder how the world will answer. how do you answer?
ReplyDeleteIvy, thanks for this post. It was nicely done. Explaining what mitochondria donation was beneficial because I have not heard of it before. It’s mind boggling to read about what we can do and the potential of what we can do these days. I think did a good job at analyzing it by giving facts and let people come up with their own conclusions concerning which side to take.
ReplyDelete