Virtual genome: Duplicate gene test in the seed bank
The available in seed banks sperm can already be tested for some genetic defects. The U.S. firm GenePeeks now wants to go a step ahead and analyze how the DNA of a woman would be combined with that of a sperm donor, Technology Review reported in its online edition. The new test could come in six months on the market, says Anne Morris, co-founder and CEO of GenePeeks.
The company uses for gene analysis, a so-called microarrays to examine approximately 250,000 base pairs in the DNA of the donor and recipient. This method is cheaper than the sequencing of the genomes. From the information provided, as well as previous findings, such as the genetic material is mixed with the fusion of egg and sperm, constructed GenePeeks a "virtual genome". Which is then checked for known risk genes, such as the for fibrosis.
Although seed banks already check the sperm of donors to the corresponding gene defect. But even if it is discovered, is not to say that the child - forms disease - often fatal. For it would have to pass on him both parents ever a fibrosis gene. It receives only one copy - the gene "recessive" is -, ill not the child itself, but perhaps the gene plays in the next generation. GenePeeks wants to identify with his method, the risk of a few thousand other diseases that are caused by inherited genetic defects such double.
Trigger for GenePeeks-founder Morris was her own experience with donor sperm. Their son Alec suffers from a genetic disorder that prevents his body from fat molecules convert into chemical energy. This can result in seizures, coma or even sudden death. In Morris' family, there had been up to that point no one showed this defect. What they did not realize: Not only they carried the recessive gene in itself, but unfortunately also the DNA of an anonymous sperm donor.
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