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Spanish
researchers have found that mice conceived using sperm exposed to E.coli
bacteria before artificially inseminating a mouse egg, retain the genetic
code of the bacteria in their DNA.
The finding raises new concerns for in-vitro fertilization as an alternative
to natural procreation, especially as IVF has become increasingly popular for
couples experiencing difficulty in conceiving a child.
Scientists from Spain’s agricultural research agency, INIA, used a method of
IVF known as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), to inject a single
sperm directly into an egg — a method used for men with low sperm count or
poor sperm motility. The method is used in approximately half of all IVF
procedures, according to a BBC report.
Sperm that was frozen and later implanted was found to transmit the E.coli
DNA to the embryo 19% of the time, whereas of those embryos that successfully
implanted into female mice, only 6% retained the genetic material.
The scientists, led by Pedro Nuno Moreira, warned that “semen samples
collected in human infertility clinics are frequently contaminated with
bacteria,” according to their report that appeared in the journal Human
Reproduction. The title of their research, Inadvertent Transgenesis by
Conventional ICSI in Mice, highlights the crux of the problem: that DNA
from the bacteria actually alters the genetic structure of the DNA in the resulting
embryos.
The term transgenesis refers to the altering of an organism’s genetic code by
the transfer of a gene or genes from another species or breed. Mixing sperm
with foreign DNA has also been proposed as a way to intentionally alter the
genetics of the offspring.
(This article courtesy of LifeSiteNews.com.)
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