How good or bad a person's health may be? To answer this question, scientists will always point back to the genes which one inherits from his and her parents. This is according to several studies which had already linked man's lifestyle to the health state of his offspring.
The majority of research that are geared towards explaining this influence have been focusing on environmental and lifestyle determinants, and how these factors lead to changes in the expression of some genes, Medical News Today shares.
Although researchers studying genetics and molecular biology had seen quite a number of physical signs to accept this knowledge, they still could not provide a specific mechanism that would explain the transmission of environmental stressors across generations up until recently that a new study was conducted, as reported in Newswise.
Researchers at the Department of Animal Science at McGill University in Canada initiated the investigation of the epigenetic aspect of transmission. According to the team, they discovered that histone proteins - a component around which long DNA strands wind - play a crucial role in transmitting heritable information from a father to his offspring. These proteins are said to be present in the sperm which is passed on to the offspring at the start of fertilization.
To test their hypothesis, the team used mouse models and made some modifications to the histones during the formation of sperm cells in male mice. They then observed the resulting offspring which were produced from fertilizing the egg cells with the modified sperms.
The study was able to show a variety of birth defects in the offspring and what amazed them was that these phenotypic traits still manifested in the two succeeding generations.
"These findings are remarkable because they indicate that information other than DNA is involved in heritability," Sarah Kimmins, one of the lead authors of the research said in the press release.
"The study highlights the critical role that fathers play in the health of their children and even grand-children. Since chemical modifications on histones are susceptible to environmental exposures, the work opens new avenues of investigation for the possible prevention and treatment of diseases of various kinds, affecting health across generations," she added.
The study appears in the journal Science.
