Technical, ethical, and social questions of germ-line
gene interventions have been widely discussed in the literature.
The majority of these discussions focus on planned interventions
executed on the nuclear DNA (nDNA). However, human cells also
contain another set of genes that is the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).
As the characteristics of the mtDNA grossly differ from those of
nDNA, so do the social, ethical, psychological, and safety
considerations of possible interventions on this part of the
genetic substance.