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Comment by reqres | Hacker News Reader

Perhaps an expert could weigh in here, because I don't really understand the controversy.

The "third parent" provides mitochondria which, by my understanding, doesn't affect the genetic makeup of the baby. In other words, the parents' genes which form the nucleus are intact and unmodified. Isn't this more akin to receiving an organ transplant than genetic manipulation/selection? Or am I missing the point here.

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The mitochondria has a genome (mtDNA). Not my area but I think while we initially thought it was a fossil of the mito's prokaryotic history and we'd subsumed all the good stuff, there are genes there that may be of interest for exploring ageing and metabolic disorders. It's also quite interesting genetically, as only passed down the maternal line, so can be traced back to a single "mitochondrial eve" (MRCA). This brings up some neat ideas in selfish gene theory wrt battle of the sexes etc.

As a point of interest, there have been some rare cases of mitochondria being passed down paternally, most likely due to incomplete destruction in the embryo.

Although most of a cell's DNA is contained in the cell nucleus, the mitochondrion has its own independent genome. And it affects the General genomic characteristics of an organism.

> Isn't this more akin to receiving an organ transplant

A "cell organelle transplant" is a good description, I like that!

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