Â鶹ŮÓÅ

A few months ago, after a fertility procedure at a Mexican clinic, a healthy baby boy was born in New York to a couple from Jordan. It was the first live birth of a child who has been called — to the dismay of scientists who say the term is grossly misleading — a three-parent baby. ... The method used to help the couple is one that reproductive scientists have been itching to try, but it is enormously controversial because it uses genetic material from a donor in addition to that of the couple trying to conceive. (Kolata, 9/27)

A boy born in April with three genetic parents is the first infant born using a new technique that incorporates DNA from two women and one man, New Scientist reported Tuesday. The technique offers promise to help children avoid often-fatal genetic diseases passed down by their mothers, but has raised thorny ethical questions and is not allowed in the United States. The boy was born in Mexico to Jordanian parents who tapped researchers from the New Hope Fertility Center in New York to help them conceive a healthy child, according to New Scientist. (Joseph, 9/7)

So-called three parent babies actually have more like 2.001 parents, according to experts. And the baby boy born earlier this year isn't the first child to have a little more DNA than Mom and Dad could provide on their own: An IVF technique that relied on small transfers of donor DNA was pioneered in the United States during the 1990s but was banned after fewer than 100 babies were born. This Jordanian newborn represents the first successful birth in a new wave of "three parent" techniques — ones that are more sophisticated and that will likely stick around much longer. (Feltman, 9/27)

Mitochondrial DNA consists of just 37 genes, a tiny fraction of the genetic material inside a cell. Unlike nuclear DNA — which is bundled into 23 pairs of chromosomes and influences traits such as eye color, height and cancer risk — mitochondrial DNA contains instructions for the energy-producing structures inside cells. It is passed down virtually unchanged from mother to child. That was a situation the infant’s mother wanted to avoid. Her mitochondrial DNA contains mutations that cause Leigh syndrome, a neurological disorder that is usually fatal during early childhood. (Kaplan, 9/27)

The goal was to prevent the child from inheriting a fatal genetic disease from his mother, who had previously lost two children to the illness. ... The technique is not approved in the United States, but Zhang told the magazine, "To save lives is the ethical thing to do." (9/27)