Concept of One Baby Two Mothers - Literature review Example

This procedure gives the baby a chance to live with the healthiest genes. Male mitochondria have no role as these are only present in the sperm tail and do not get the chance of penetrating the egg. The researchers from the UK’s Newcastle University are trying another technique that involves the transfer of cell nucleus only and not the mitochondria. The nucleus of the egg with defective mitochondria is transferred to the donor egg. Male infertility can also be cured by injecting healthy mitochondria into the sperm tail which helps in sperm motility.

However, chances of mitochondrial diseases to be transferred to the baby still persist as some faulty mitochondria can remain attached to the transferred nucleus. Questions that arise are: Is it not too early to jump to conclusions as Lane himself mentioned that the research work in this area is not complete? If variations in mitochondrial DNA may result in the occurrence of diseases like Alzheimer’s, then is the idea of designer babies a good one? If mitochondrial incompatibilities lead to fatal diseases like early miscarriages, then what is the solution?

Have any experiments been conducted to cure male infertility using this concept? Is this concept ethically acceptable?