First baby born to three parents

In 2016, the first successful human spindle nuclear transfer was completed, resulting in a baby born to three parents. Spindle nuclear transfer is the process of taking a nucleus from an expectant mother and transferring it into a donor egg that has had its nucleus removed. The donor egg is then fertilised with sperm from the father and returned to the mother. The resulting child will possess genetic material from the mother, and father and a small number of genes from the donor. Spindle nuclear transfer was developed to help prevent mitochondrial diseases from being passed onto offspring but has also been used recently (2019) as a form of infertility treatment.

Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are maternally inherited and can cause fatal or debilitating mitochondrial disorders. The mother in this research study is a carrier of Leigh syndrome, a severe neurological disorder, characterized by progressive loss of mental and movement abilities that typically results in death within two to three years. The embryo developed from the spindle nuclear transfer resulted in the birth of a healthy baby boy, who has three genetic parents.