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A new study from the University of California suggests that if a father's environment impairs the epigenetics of sperm chromosomes, the health of the offspring could be affected.
Image Credit: Yurchanka Siarhei / Shutterstock
Use the round worm Caenorhabditis elegansSusan Strome and her team have shown how epigenetic marks on chromosomes or "epigenetic memory" are passed from parents to offspring by sperm.
They have also shown that the epigenetic memory transmitted by sperm to an embryo is necessary to guide the healthy development of the germ cells of the offspring.
The team examined a particular epigenetic marker called H3K27me3, a well-known marker of repressed gene expression.
When Strome and his team removed the chromosomes from the mark in the sperm, they found that the majority of the offspring were sterile.
They then investigated whether the presence of the mark was sufficient to guide the correct development of germ cells.
The team analyzed a mutant worm in which the chromosomes of sperm and egg are separated from each other during the first cell division following fertilization.
This unusual pattern of separation allowed researchers to produce germline worms that inherit only chromosomes and epigenetic sperm marks.
These worms have all been shown to be fertile and express normal gene patterns.
These results show that conditioning of the DNA in sperm is important because offspring that did not inherit normal epigenetic sperm marks were sterile and sufficient for normal germ line development. "
Susan Strome, lead author
Although the study demonstrates that the transmission of epigenetic information through sperm is crucial for normal development, it does not explain how the factors to which a father is exposed can affect the health of his offspring.
Strome and his colleagues are currently exploring this issue using worms that have been alcoholic or hungry before breeding.
The goal is to analyze how the conditioning of chromatin changes in the parent. All that is transmitted to the offspring must pass through the germ cells.
We want to know which cells are affected by environmental factors, how they transmit this information to germ cells, what changes occur in germ cells and how this affects offspring. "
Susan Strome, lead author
Source:
This report is based on a press release from the University of California at Santa Cruz and on the research study itself.
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