Pronuclear transfer in human embryos to prevent transmission of mitochondrial DNA disease

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations passed down from a mother to offspring are a common cause of genetic disease, including neurological, muscle and heart problems, deafness and type 2 diabetes. It was shown recently in non-human primates that nuclear transfer techniques can prevent their transmission. Now, that proof-of-principle work has been extended to human embryos (see News, http://go.nature.com/xqgWXf ). A multi-department team based at...