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‘CYBRID’ STEM CELLS

Author
Master
Date
2007-05-11 17:02
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24665

‘CYBRID’ STEM CELLS GET OK


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Don’t say hybrid: say cybrid. That’s the new name for an embryo created by combining genetic material from humans with eggs from other animals, most likely rabbits or cows. The terminology could help sidestep the UK’s ban on the creation of embryos containing both animal and human genes – and it seems to be working.
On 17 May, the UK government issued a draft bill to overhaul the existing legislation and allow human animal “cybrids” to be created solely for research purposes. It would also allow animal genes or cells to be added to human embryos for research purposes.
The draft bill runs counter to proposals issued last year prohibiting such research except on a case-by-case basis. However, the new legislation may take many months to finalise – and it is not yet certain whether functional cybrids can be created.
The rationale for cybrids is that animal eggs are plentiful compared with the human eggs required to create embryos for stem cell research. Made by fusing a human cell or its nucleus with an animal egg stripped of its own nuclear DNA, they contain a minuscule amount of genetic material from the animal – 13 mitochondrial genes – compared with 23,000 human genes.
These embryos would yield essentially human stem cells providing a “diseasein- a-dish” for study, according to Stephen Minger of King’s College London, who heads one of three UK teams hoping to use cybrids to investigate motor neuron disease and muscular dystrophy.

Source : New Scientist 2007, May



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