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Studies on mammals show that "memory" of various environmental impacts such as diet, weight and stress can be passed from father to offspring, although these effects are not encoded in the DNA sequence , which is carried by sperm.
Thanks to a 2021 study, we have an explanation for this possibility.
This story has a lot to do with epigenetics . Molecules attached to DNA can control what parts of DNA are used like switches - but until 2021, we don't know which of these molecules can carry the settings for markings of father's life experiences, integrating into the embryo through sperm. "The major breakthrough in this study is that it has identified a non-DNA way of remembering the father's environment (diet) and passing information to the embryo," said Sarah Kimmins, an epigenetics expert at McGill University. "His major breakthrough in this study is that it has identified a non-DNA way of sperm remembering the father's environment (diet) and passing information to the embryo."
epigeneticist Ariane Lismer and colleagues used mice to demonstrate that folate can convey the effects of diet by changing histone molecules in sperm. In short, histones are a basic protein , where DNA is wrapped around it for tangle-free storage.
In mammals, when male bodies produce sperm, they throw out most of histone spools to build up more tightly.
, but still a small percentage (1% in mice and 15% in humans), provides scaffolds for DNA in specific regions of sperm generation and function, metabolism, and embryonic development, enabling cellular mechanisms to leverage these DNA instructions.
Chemical modifications of these histones—most commonly the form of methylation of —are what allows or prevents DNA from being "read" in order to be transcribed into protein products. A poor diet can cause these histones to change their methylation status.
This is why we often hear about the importance of folic acid to pregnant women: mothers' folic acid helps stabilize DNA methylation in young people.
By starting to feed folic acid-deficient foods from when male mice were weaned, researchers were able to track changes in histones in male mice's sperm and embryos. In fact, changes in sperm histones are also present in developing embryos.
In 2021, Lismer said: "No one has been able to track how these heritable environmental characteristics are delivered from sperm to embryos." The
research team also found that these effects may be cumulative and lead to an increase in the severity of birth defects.
Interestingly, the birth defects in mice, including underdevelopment at birth and spinal abnormalities, have been well documented in people with folate deficiency.
researchers hope that expanding our understanding of genetic mechanisms will reveal other ways to treat and prevent such diseases. But there is still a lot to do before that. "Our next step will be to determine whether these harmful changes induced in sperm proteins (histones) can be repaired. We have exciting new work to show that it is true," said Jinmings. "The study was published in the journal Developmental Cell. A version of this article was first published in March 2021.
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Author/TESSA KOUMOUNDOUROS
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Original text/www.sciencealert.com/we-know-how-sperm-remember-and-pass-on-non-dna-coded-traits-to-embryos
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