Studies in mammals show that the'memories' of various environmental effects can be passed on from fathers to offspring.
We have an explanation for how it can be done.
The story has a lot to do with epigenetics We didn't know which of the Molecules attached to DNA could carry settings from a father's life experiences to be incorporated into an embryo.
Sarah Kimmins said that the study has identified a non-DNA based means by which sperm remember a father's environment and send that information to the embryo.
Ariane and her colleagues were able to show that the effects of a folate deficient diet could be passed on by altering histone molecule in sperm. Histones are important for tangle-free storage.
Most of the histone spools are thrown out by mammals when they build sperm.
In humans and mice, a small percentage still provides scaffolding for DNA in regions specific to sperm creation and function, metabolism, and embryo development.
The most common form of chemical modification of histones is called methylation. Poor diet can affect histones.
Folate is important for a woman's unborn child because it helps keep their genes stable.
The researchers were able to track the changes to histones from the male's sperm and in the embryo after he was fed a diet that was deficient in folate. The embryo had sperm histone changes as well.
Heritable environmental signatures are transmitted from the sperm to the embryo, but no one has been able to track it.
The effects could lead to an increase in birth defects.
The birth defects seen in the mice are well documented in humans.
Expanding our knowledge of inheritance mechanisms will reveal more ways to treat and prevent such conditions, according to the researchers. There is still more to be worked out.
The next step will be to find out if these harmful changes can be fixed. Kimmins said that they had exciting new work that suggested this was the case.
The research was published in a scientific journal.
In March 2021, a version of the article was published.
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