Consider the following statements:
- Genetic changes can be introduced in the cells that produce eggs or sperms of a prospective parent.
- A person’s genome can be edited before birth at the early embryonic stage.
- Human induced pluripotent stem cells can be injected into the embryo of a pig.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2020 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d)
Explanation:
- Germline gene therapy involves the transfer of necessary DNA into the reproductive cells, namely eggs or sperm, to correct gene variants that cause diseases and can be inherited across generations. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
- For the first-time disease gene-edited out of human embryo was published in 2017. Scientists in the US have repaired a disease-causing mutation in the DNA of early-stage human embryos and said that taking a step closer to engineering babies free of inherited disorders. Hence statement 2 is correct.
- Human-induced pluripotent stem cells – They have been hailed as an effective replacement for human embryonic stem cells and a prime candidate cell source for regenerative medicine aims. The researchers tried combining human induced pluripotent stem cells with pig embryos. This experiment shows that human-induced pluripotent cells can be injected into pigs embryo. Hence statement 3 is correct.
