To accompany feature “How to make a ‘three-parent baby’”

SCIENCE 

Before Reading:

1.  Draw a picture of an animal cell. Label the cell membrane, nucleus, mitochondria and chromosomes.

2.  Where did the DNA in your cells originate?

During Reading: 

1.  What is a three-parent baby?

2.  What are mitochondria?

3.  Why does Jacques Cohen call cytoplasm “the most complicated fluid in the universe”?

4.  What was the first technique that scientists tried to stop mitochondrial diseases in babies?

5.  What does the story say are two downsides to pronuclear transfer?

6.  What happens to a cell’s chromosomes when the cell divides to create eggs or sperm?

7.  What are two downsides to spindle transfer, according to this story?

8.  Why do some researchers take issue with the term “three-parent baby”?

9.  Why did a panel of experts say that it is ethical to make three-parent baby boys but not girls?

After Reading: 

1.  Does a three-parent baby really have three parents? Explain why or why not?

2.  Some people worry that research on three-parent babies could one day lead to designer babies — children that have had their DNA altered in specific ways before birth. Why might designer babies be a bad thing?