Three parent embryo created

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by S.A.M., Feb 6, 2008.

  1. wildernessfluff Registered Member

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    As I know it mitochondrial DNA has 13 genes for making the enzymes that are the energy for the cell and the rest are instructions for making RNA's. I don't really see how that can be a morality issue, all that the mitochondria do is run basic functions to run the cell. It has nothing to do with things like appearance and personality. Yes, its inherited but the only difference in person made from this unique combination should be the lack of a mutation that could cause the person suffering throughout their life. If I had a disease that was passed on by mitochondria I would do anything to not have to pass it on to my babies.
     
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  3. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    I think you are greatly under-estimating the importance of the mitochondrial genome. The mitochondrial genome of a person most definitively does contribute to the “genetic makeup” of that person. In fact, it is a very important component of the genetic makeup of a person as there are metabolic disorders that can occur if mitochondrial function is impaired by mitochondrial mutations. That is the whole impetus for the technology in the OP!
     
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  5. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    It’s a curious thing.

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    Whenever a discussion of mitochondria occurs, people line up to mention and describe in great detail the endosymbiotic origin of this organelle. Whilst the info in that area that has been presented appears quite correct, it’s totally irrelevant to the technology in question!

    And while a bacterial endosymbiotic event was what originally created this organelle, in my opinion it’s incorrect to describe mitochondria as endosymbionts. They may have once been free-living organisms but they are now vestigial and are very much a dedicated organelle of eukaryotic cells. As far as I know the term “symbionts” (and “endosymbionts”) refer to the mutual co-existence of living organisms. Mitochondria haven’t been living organisms for countless millions of years. They contain the vestiges of a bacterial endosymbiotic event – the double cell membrane, single circular chromosome, bacterial genomic organisation etc.

    Interestingly, over the course of eukaryotic cell evolution many former mitochondrial genes have translocated to the nuclear genome (and a few genes have gone the other way).
     
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  7. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    Umm so can a fulty kidney but we dont say that replacing THAT changes a persons genetic makup. Its the same as an fulty organ only its inside the cells themselves rather than being a group of cells
     
  8. draqon Banned Banned

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    That is were a religion starts for me, a belief that taking even one part of me...whether its a kidney or mitochondria....is taking away me in essence. The same way when my grandmother died, I felt like something was taken away from me...I lost part of me. The same way here, this isnt about genetic makeup, it is about having the most of yourself and keeping yourself intact because that is what makes it you. That is why when I get reduced to one sperm in my life, and that one sperm is me and it is inside a woman being born as a child...I feel that child as part of me and that is why when I will die...that child will be me in essence. Meanwhile I fear that this genetic manipulation will take away the little of me in that sperm that there is...

    For me this is a religion, it is a belief, it is stronger than God or belief of God...for me this is the reality.
     
  9. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    Well i just hope your never infertile then. Not all people are ABLE to concive using there own genetic makup, thats why there are sperm and egg banks. Also just because a child isnt yours biologically doesnt mean it wont be yours. Gens play only a very small roll in personality, mostly its about how a child is raised. I would much rather not risk passing on say fragile x (if i was a girl and HAD fragile x

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    ) and loving a health child not burdened by that disease than worry about passing on flawed genetics. Why do you think that the law recognises the childs emotional (for want of a better word) parent above there biological parent if these arnt the same
     
  10. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    You really should read the posts!!!

     
  11. draqon Banned Banned

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    oh you are sooo right...I need to find a girl quickly
     
  12. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    SAM he posted that post WHILE i was responding to his first post. Thats what comes of multiposting

    Edit to add: Sam i know your a genetisits but please dont be to hard on me, i study the mitocondria as part of a medically focused paramedics degree. So i may well be wrong on somethings. The only reason i even KNOW about the mitocondria as oposed to all the other orgonells is we are required to know about ATP because its so essential for shock.

    I didnt Know that some gens had moved from the neculus to the mitocondria and vise versa, as far as my resurch had show the mitocondria is stable no matter HOW far you go back (one of the reasons they found the bottle neck in out of Africa humans) where as DNA DEFINITLY changes generation to generation
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2008
  13. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    And it shows - you clearly know much more on the subject than the average person.

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  14. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    to be honest i wouldnt have even KNOWN what it was 2 years ago

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    i would have thought you were talking about the star wars midiclorians

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  15. lowefly Registered Senior Member

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    As I understand it the genetic material of the mitochondria are carried on the X chromosome. It is believed to have at one time been its own organism, but the genes of the mitochondria are now a part of the human genetic makeup. So it remains the same from one generation to the next because the father supplies the Y chromosome while the mother passes her X. The stability isn't 100% though because there is genetic mutation which happens at a calcuable rate(more rapid than most). Since this is now a part of our own chromosome it is NOT a seperate organism such as bacteria used in digestion. It should be understood however that mtDNA only governs mitochondria and would have no bearing on how we think or who we are on a conscious level...other than we may be more or less energetic or might not physically be healthy...but the ATP produced would be ATP there are no variations on ATP other than the amount produced. It could be taken from the father and planted but it would be a more difficult procedure than what is being done here.
     
  16. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    No.

    Mitochondrial DNA is contained within the mitochondria. Each mitochondrial organelle contains a single circular chromosome. These are separate from the nuclear genome, ie. the DNA in the chromosomes in the nucleus. The maternal inheritance of mitochondria derives from the fact that only the ovum contributes mitochondria to the newly fertilized zygote. Take a look at the pictures posted above.
     
  17. Roman Banned Banned

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    Mitochondria must be under some sort of cell cycle control. I'm sure we've got some nuclear DNA that tells the mitochondria to do stuff, and there's some mitochondrial DNA that's all "yeah, alright, whatever, I'll make that ATP as soon as I'm finished with this game of Starcraft."
     
  18. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    Yes.

    Mitochondria replicate along with the cell during mitosis. mtDNA replicates throughout interphase. The assembly of mitochondria involves proteins encoded by their own genomes and translated within the organelle, as well as proteins encoded by the nuclear genome and imported from the cytosol.

    At mitosis each daughter cell receives approximately the same number of mitochondria, but since there is no mechanism for apportioning exactly equal numbers of mitochondria to the daughter cells, some cells contain more mtDNA than others. All the mitochondria in eukaryotic cells contain multiple mtDNA molecules. Thus the total amount of mtDNA in a cell depends on the number of mitochondria, the size of the mtDNA, and the number of mtDNA molecules per mitochondrion.

    Molecular Cell Biology, 4th Ed.
    - Harvey Lodish
    - Arnold Berk
    - Lawrence S. Zipursky
    - Paul Matsudaira
    - David Baltimore
    - James Darnell

    ISBN 0-7167-3136-31986
     
  19. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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  20. Roman Banned Banned

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    Thanks for describing the process, Dr., but there's nothing in there intimating that anyone understands what's happening. It's more of a "oh, it just happens."
     
  21. lowefly Registered Senior Member

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    Thanks Hercules. I like that book a lot better, it's much clearer on this topic than my cellular biology book. This book would have been handy to have when I took Anatomy Physiology this last year. Believe it or not our biology profs didn't know as much as I did about mtDNA. I used mtDNA as an argument against the existence of separate races within the human race...My grade paid the price because my prof argued that people of different colors couldn't have identical mtDNA...tis a sad statement...

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  22. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    Well, surely you’re not concluding that the single opening paragraph I copy&pasted from a single textbook represents all we know about mitochondria. Considerably more is known about the genetics and molecular biology of mitochondrial function and division. I just don’t have the time at the moment to go looking for specific answers for you. Sorry.

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  23. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Three-parent embryo, bah. Intracellular mtDNA line with a new nucleus, while the implication was bloody triploidy. Sensationalist media fraud.
     

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