First 3-person DNA baby born in Mexico

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY (AA) – For the first time, a baby has been born using a new “three parent” fertility technique, scientists said Tuesday.

The five-month-old boy born in Mexico inherited of the DNA of his parents, but also from a donor, the team behind the new method told the New Scientist.

The Jordanian mother of the boy carries the Leigh syndrome gene, a fatal nervous system disorder she passed to two children who died from the disease.

The couple -- whose names were not disclosed -- contacted Dr. John Zhang from the New Hope Fertility Center in New York in an attempt to have a baby without passing the Leigh syndrome genes.

Different techniques using the DNA of three different had been used since the 1990’s.

The mother and father refused to use a pronuclear transfer method, approved in U,K., because it would have risked destroying two embryos but respecting the couple’s wishes, Zhang’s team was able to create a new method.

The three-person method has not been approved in the U.S. so in order to perform the procedure, scientists and the parents flew to Mexico where there are no laws that prohibit it.

The New Scientist said the team created a technique using all of the fundamental DNA from the mother’s egg then added healthy mitochondria from an egg donor as the Leigh syndrome gene is located in the mitochondria. The scientists were able to produce a healthy new egg that was fertilized with the father's sperm.

“It proves for the first time that genetic information from three people can avoid disease. We now know reconstitution of human eggs can produce a healthy baby. No other technique has been established,” Zhang said.

Zhang and his team will present the method and results to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine next month in Utah.