Scientists today offered new hope for women at risk of passing on certain inherited diseases to their children, in the form of a pioneering technique to move healthy genetic material from fertilised eggs into donated ones. Researchers from Newcastle University say their breakthrough will help women whose children are at risk of a range of mitochondrial diseases. These disorders can be mild or very severe, and can cause muscle weakness, blindness, heart and liver failure, diabetes and learning disabilities. They affect one child in every 6,500. The diseases are caused by mutations in the small amount of genetic material in the mitochondria, which provide the cell with energy. Mitochondrial DNA is separate from the nucleus in a fertilised egg, and is passed on solely by the mother. The disorders their children suffer are untreatable. Women normally discover they are carriers after relatives have had babies with mitochondrial diseases. If they decide to be tested, they must then opt to remain childless or take the chance of passing on the disease to their child. The Newcastle University researchers write in the journal Nature that they have successfully transplanted the healthy DNA in human eggs from women with […]