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. 2017 Feb 24;6(3):25.
doi: 10.3390/jcm6030025.

Mitochondrial Modification Techniques and Ethical Issues

Lucía Gómez-Tatay  1   2   3 , José M Hernández-Andreu  4   5 , Justo Aznar  6
Affiliations

Mitochondrial Modification Techniques and Ethical Issues

Lucía Gómez-Tatay et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Current strategies for preventing the transmission of mitochondrial disease to offspring include techniques known as mitochondrial replacement and mitochondrial gene editing. This technology has already been applied in humans on several occasions, and the first baby with donor mitochondria has already been born. However, these techniques raise several ethical concerns, among which is the fact that they entail genetic modification of the germline, as well as presenting safety problems in relation to a possible mismatch between the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, maternal mitochondrial DNA carryover, and the "reversion" phenomenon. In this essay, we discuss these questions, highlighting the advantages of some techniques over others from an ethical point of view, and we conclude that none of these are ready to be safely applied in humans.

Keywords: CRISPR; TALENs; ethics; gene editing; maternal spindle transfer; mitochondrial disease; mitochondrial replacement; polar body transfer; pronuclear transfer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pronuclear transfer.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Maternal spindle transfer.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) first polar body transfer; (B) second polar body transfer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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