Researchers have for the first time succeeded in replacing defective mitochondrial genomes with healthy ones in monkey embryos--a technique that could be used to prevent children from inheriting a variety of incurable genetic diseases caused by defective mitochondrial genes, they report online today (August 26) in Nature.
"The general idea of preventing mitochondrial diseases by altering egg cells has been around for quite a while now," David Samuels, a professor of molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told The Scientist in an email. "The difficulty has been in working out how to actually carry out the procedure without harming the egg cell," added Samuels, who was not involved in the study.
Mitochondria, which generate most of the cell's energy supply, contain their own genome, distinct from the cell's nuclear DNA, which is inherited exclusively through the mother. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA can deplete cells of energy ...
